Donald Trump’s Inauguration is only a few days away—and unlike his first, this one is happening indoors.
In a post on Truth Social, the president-elect announced that he had “ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985.” Trump appears to have included the bit about Reagan in order to draw a comparison between himself and the much mythologized president, widely seen as one of the greatest Republican leaders in United States history. That braggadocious comparison was likely made to distract from the real reason: “also because of very cold weather,” Trump added.
The internet was quick to dump all over the announcement. Republicans Against Trump drew a comparison to an equally mythologized American president, John F. Kennedy, who was inaugurated on the Capitol steps when the windchill brought temperatures down to 7 degrees. He didn’t even wear gloves or a hat! Obama faced similar cold weather conditions at his Inauguration. Why won’t Trump brave the winter weather? Republicans Trump has the answer: “he’s old, frail, AND fears small crowds.”
Trump’s advanced age may indeed have him worried about his own health. After all Inauguration Day has been fatal to presidents before. William Henry Harrison caught pneumonia after delivering a record long speech on the day of his Inauguration, and he died only three weeks later.
Other X users think that Trump is moving the ceremony indoors in order to make his Inauguration Day crowd look bigger than its slated to be.
Crowd size (along with hand size) has been a sensitive subject for Trump in the past. The president-elect often touts his own ability to draw massive crowds, though his rallies’ actual attendance numbers often flag in comparison to his frequent hyperbole.
When it comes to his Inauguration, the weather isn’t Trump’s only worry.The president-elect recently launched into a Truth Social rant complaining about the possibility that the American flag would be flown at half-mast at the ceremony due to its coincidence with the mourning period for president Jimmy Carter. He raged that Democrats were “giddy” at the idea, and wrote “no one wants to see” the mourning period tradition observed.
Trump’s anxieties were assuaged when Speaker Mike Johnson announced that “the flags at the Capitol will fly at full staff” on Inauguration Day, in defiance of Carter’s mourning period. The flags will then be lowered again the day following, he added.
X users imagined that the kindly former president had a stern message for Trump and Johnson from beyond the grave.
Other internet users think that Trump’s decision to move the ceremony indoors was made for purely aesthetic concerns.
While Trump might be able to survive the cold weather, his hair may not.
Other users believe that the indoor ceremony will put Trump’s “elderly, golf cart energy” on full display.
Then there are some who believe that Trump’s decision to move the ceremony indoors is at odds with his carefully crafted strongman persona. After all, Trump has publicly styled himself as a “day one” dictator, and spent his first term praising Vladimir Putin and other authoritarian leaders around the world. In private, Trump’s autocratic leanings took on a far more sinister tone when he told aides that he needed “the kind of generals that Hitler had.” Trump may try to imitate Putin, but something tells me the Russian president wouldn’t hold a political ceremony indoors, no matter how cold the winter may get in Moscow.
Published: Jan 17, 2025 11:07 pm