Newly elected US President Donald Trump will begin his second presidential term today by taking the oath of office.
The presidential inauguration is a symbol of the transfer of authority and power in the American political system. This time, executive power is passing from the hands of Biden to the second Trump administration.
According to the Twentieth Amendment to the US Constitution, the four-year presidential term ends at noon on January 20, and the term of the newly elected president begins shortly thereafter. Due to the extreme cold and temperatures that will range from -11 to -5 degrees on Inauguration Day, all events have been moved indoors.
The title and theme of Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony is "Our Enduring Democracy: A Constitutional Promise."
The ceremony begins at around 11:30 a.m. local time, and Trump is scheduled to take the oath of office around noon. What could be heard from the organizing committee is that it will symbolically happen at 11:47 a.m. - given that Trump is the 47th elected US president.
Originally, the entire event was supposed to be held outdoors, as it has been many times before, on the west side of the Capitol building - the seat of Congress - and preparations had been underway for the past few weeks and months. However, at the last minute, due to very low temperatures forecast for Monday and Sunday, the organizers decided to move the event inside the Capitol - which required major technical and security changes.
The duration of the inauguration ceremony has not been determined. Trump's in 2017 and Biden's in 2021 lasted about an hour.
Performances are scheduled for that time by the University of Nebraska Choir, as well as the US Navy Band, tenor Christopher Mackie, country star Carrie Underwood and disco group the Village People.
Newly-elected Vice President J.D. Vance is scheduled to be sworn in before Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh - appointed during Trump's previous term.
President-elect Trump will do so before Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.
It has been announced that a significant number of officials will attend the inauguration of the president-elect - as well as former presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and outgoing president Joe Biden. Outgoing vice president and Trump's defeated opponent Kamala Harris is expected to be among those in attendance.
It has also been known for some time that former US First Lady Michelle Obama will not be attending the ceremony.
Foreign officials include Argentine President Javier Miglio, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Chinese Vice President Han Zheng - who is expected to represent President Xi Jinping, who is also invited to the ceremony.
He expects that world technology giants will be represented by Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Sundar Pachai, and among those present should be the head of TikTok, Shou Chei, an application that has not been shut down - after receiving a signal from the newly elected president about a possible postponement of the ban for 90 days.
In the US capital, security measures were raised to the highest level in the previous days and Sunday due to the inauguration ceremony and parade - which included the closure of the wider city center. However, the decision to move the central ceremony, the swearing-in, inside the Capitol, was made, and the parade was moved to an indoor venue - the Capital One Arena.
As a result, a large number of citizens were unable to watch the ceremony live. According to estimates by organizers and experts, 220.000 citizens with tickets were supposed to watch the open-air ceremony live. In addition, city officials allowed 250.000 citizens without tickets to attend near the National Pier.
The capacity of the sports arena in downtown Washington, where the presidential parade has been moved, is 20.000 people, so many citizens will be deprived of the opportunity to watch the day-long events that include the inauguration ceremony live.
Incidentally, at the same location in the Capital One Arena, Trump held what he called a victory rally on Sunday afternoon.
He told those gathered that he would make America great again, which was his campaign slogan, to establish law and order, prevent, as he called it, invasion at the borders, increase oil extraction, and also prevent World War III.
Previously, a gathering of opponents of Donald Trump and the policies he advocates was held in the US capital.
The gathering highlighted the dangers that, according to those gathered, women's and reproductive rights, the LGBTQ population, migrants, the climate, and democracy itself are facing.
The walk covered the area from the White House, the Abraham Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Pier.
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