On Jan. 20, 2025, President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office for the second time, with a host of political officials expected to attend the celebration. Backing the event is a record $170 million in funding.
Amazon and Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, have each contributed $1 million to support the inauguration and its festivities.
Their respective leaders, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, will have front-row seats to all the action, including the President-elect’s swearing-in ceremony.
While corporate leaders continue to show their support, not everyone feels the occasion is worth celebrating — with some of Illinois’ Democratic leaders, including Rep. Delia Ramirez (IL-03) and Rep. Sean Casten (IL-06), opting out of the celebration entirely.
“I have great respect for the office of the President of the United States,” Casten said in a statement. “In my time serving in Congress during his first administration, I found President-elect Trump consistently failed to recognize that all of us who are in elected office succeed only to the extent that we hand our position off to our successor in better shape than we found it.”
Rather than attending the inauguration, Casten plans to spend time with his family, his director of communications Jacob Vurpillat said in an email to The DePaulia. Casten’s statement further explains his decision.
“On January 20th, I could attend the inauguration and listen to the President-elect debase the office of President of the United States. Or I could spend the day with family, honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., his patriotism, and the dream he had for the United States. I choose the latter,” the statement said.
Unlike some lawmakers, Republicans including Jeff Fiedler, a member of the Chicago GOP, are waiting in anticipation for the big day.
“The inauguration is supposed to show unity, and how our country is unified,” Fiedler said.
Fiedler worries that those who opt out symbolize a greater disconnect. “It’s disrespectful to the country, and it’s disrespectful to their constituents,” Fiedler said.
According to Jowen Ortiz Cintrón, Ramierez’s communications director, the congresswoman will spend Inauguration Day in her district, attending Martin Luther King Jr. Day events and sharing information with immigrant communities regarding their rights.
“I am a brown woman, daughter of immigrants, and I would feel unsafe. And a better way to celebrate MLK — who is the exact opposite of what we’re about to get as president — is to be with my community, with my people. Especially as this man, on day one, announces all the horrible things he will do to try to harm the communities I love,” Ramirez told Axios.
“A lot of people are just politically exhausted and dispirited by the election of President Trump,” Craig Sautter, DePaul professor and expert in American politics, explained.
Regardless, having political conversations and keeping up with politics is something that Lupe Castillo finds important, regardless of ideology.
“Because he’s president, I watch the announcements Biden does almost every time he’s on TV,” Castillo, a Republican, said. “That’s the way (America) should be. You don’t know what’s going on unless you pay attention.”
In 2024, Castillo lost her race against Rep. Chuy Garcia (IL-04). The State Journal Register compiled a list of lawmakers in Illinois who are not attending the inauguration, including Garcia.
For those who do plan to attend Trump’s big day, security in Washington, D.C., will be tight and the area is expected to experience extreme cold.
As of now, protest turnout estimates remain low, but over 200 people were reported arrested during Trump’s first inauguration.
“The message isn’t that people oppose President Trump, but the message is that people are using violence,” Sautter, the DePaul professor, said. “Protests have historically been a part of American politics, but around inaugurations, not so much, except the first inauguration and the Nixon years.”
On Jan. 6, 2021, Trump supporters attacked the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. as Congress certified the election of President Joe Biden.
Trump faced a four-count indictment for his role in the disruption of the election process. The criminal investigation was led by special counsel Jack Smith. However, following Trump’s reelection, Smith dropped the investigation.
In his final report, Smith stated “that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
News outlets continued to circulate information surrounding Trump’s trials throughout the 2024 presidential campaign. Trump’s position as the first convicted felon to serve in office is a topic which has fueled debate between Democrats and Republicans.
“The decision to prosecute Trump in every way (possible) just kept Donald Trump in the news for four years,” Sautter said.
Following the Capitol riots, Facebook suspended Trump’s account in 2021 — a decision the platform reversed ahead of the Republican National Convention in July 2024. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced his decision to replace Facebook’s fact-checkers with a community notes initiative similar to Elon Musk’s X.
In a video explaining the decision, Zuckerberg cited the need to “get back to our roots” of free expression in the United States.
As corporate leaders such as Zuckerberg and Musk continue to invest in Republican leaders, the absence of a few local leaders on the other side of the aisle underscores political tensions felt by many following Trump’s reelection.
Going forward, Sautter said Democrats should consider how to “figure out and rebuild their base.”
Related Stories:
- Inaugurations: Precedent, Power and Prose
- Letter from the Editors: Our reporting is essential – Help us go to inauguration
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