Donald Trump takes the oath of the President of the USA. Photo: The White House (x.com)
The tradition of holding the inauguration outdoors was first broken by Ronald Reagan 40 years ago due to bad weather. The second time — now, with Trump, due to the cold. The ceremony takes place inside the Capitol, in the very rotunda where in 2021, on January 6, battles unfolded between the police and attackers who tried to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's election as president. Trump's supporters tried to stop it. And now we see about 300 people gathered in that very rotunda. Vice President Vance is the first to take the oath, next to him are his wife and children. Donald Trump congratulates him. We see in this hall the three richest people in the world. This is Elon Musk (Tesla), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), and Jeff Bezos (Amazon), they are directly in the hall. Here is also the 42nd President of the USA Bill Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Donald Trump — the 45th, and now also the 47th President of the United States of America, takes the oath surrounded by his close ones: here is his wife Melania Trump in an extravagant black hat, all in black with white; here are his children. And here is the outgoing 46th President Joe Biden, with whom Donald Trump and Melania Trump met at the White House. Joe Biden and his wife Jill met them, as is customary, on the steps of the White House. Trump did not do this, let me remind you, in 2021, when Joe Biden became president. But Biden met Trump at the White House, they sat over a cup of coffee and arrived together at the Capitol to attend the inauguration.
We see how Trump's younger son approached Joe Biden and shook hands with him and Vice President in Joe Biden's administration Kamala Harris. Kamala Harris is all in black, and it is clear that this is a very difficult day for her. It is not only her loss to the person who is now being sworn in, but it is also the end of a ringing career. Earlier, Kamala Harris's husband, so to speak, the "first gentleman" in Joe Biden's administration, entered the hall.
250,000 tickets were sold or distributed for the inauguration — for people who were supposed to stand on the Capitol balustrade and, most importantly, in front of the Capitol. But, unfortunately, due to sub-zero temperatures and obviously due to fears that some shooter might appear — twice an assassination attempt on Donald Trump was prevented during his presidential campaign, — the ceremony, to the great disappointment of Trump's supporters, was moved inside the building.
I talk a lot with people who are now in Washington, both guests and those who live there. Many flew here from all over the world and from all states of America. Of course, they are very upset that they did not get to the inauguration. But in Washington, there have been festive dinners and balls for several days. The so-called candlelight ball took place the day before in one of the museums in Washington, where Trump spoke. There was a rally at the stadium arena, where Donald Trump's supporters gathered. Trump himself, Elon Musk, and other close people from the new president's entourage gave speeches. The celebrations will continue for several more days. So those who paid big money to attend this inauguration can participate in other festive events.
Photo: Keystone Press Agency / Global Look Press
It is said that Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos each paid a million dollars to the inauguration fund, but not only that. As we know, Elon Musk spent on Trump's campaign — there are disputes about this — 150 million dollars or 250 million dollars. There are people who also contributed to the fund, but they are not so noticeable. Close to the president sit members of the House of Representatives, happy Republicans, and many Democrats — quite gloomy. For Washington, which is, in principle, a very democratic city, today is a difficult day. Probably, some feel behind the enemy lines, in enemy territory.
Two thousand political appointees have already arrived in Washington. And there will be 11,000 in total because Trump is changing both the top layer of political appointees and the layer of appointees below them. These are not quite bureaucrats, these are precisely political appointees — people who are primarily loyal to their leader, their president. The civil service, however, is loyal only to the American people. According to the civil service law, it primarily works for taxpayers and on taxpayers' money. As, in fact, do these 11,000 who will now occupy various important positions in the huge, incredibly expanded White House bureaucracy.
By the way, it is customary to think that Republicans — supporters of compact government, that they are for reducing bureaucracy. In fact, all studies show that under Republican presidents, the White House bureaucracy only grew.
...While Trump delivers his inaugural speech, I watch Joe Biden. When Amy Klobuchar, a senator from the Democrats, said that, thank God, there is a peaceful transfer of power, Biden crossed himself. Now he sits to the left of the speaking Donald Trump and listens attentively to him. In his last speech, which Joe Biden delivered first at a press conference, and then in South Carolina, where he flew the day before, he warned Americans that oligarchs are coming to power in America, he calls it a technocratic oligarchy, meaning Jeff Bezos (who was once in very difficult relations with Trump, and now, as they write, literally kissed his hand), Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg — all three demonstrate their absolute loyalty to Trump.
Trump together with outgoing US President Joe Biden.
Photo: Kenny Holston / The New York Times / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Bezos always supported Democrats and bought Washington Post, but now the newspaper is going through very difficult times because pressure from Bezos has already begun. Washington Post did not, as is customary with American media, campaign for Kamala Harris's election. Usually, newspapers suggest their readers vote for a candidate, this is an American tradition. So, at first, Washington Post abandoned this tradition, and quite recently did not publish a cartoon of Trump (or Vance), and one of the famous cartoonists of Washington Post left the newspaper, and last week a very famous columnist also left the newspaper. When Washington Post refused to campaign its readers to vote for Kamala Harris, a popular columnist of the newspaper, journalist and writer David Hoffman resigned — he continues to remain in the newspaper's team, but no longer writes columns. So for many journalists of Washington Post this is an extremely difficult story, and I fear that the newspaper may not survive the latest upheavals. When people like David Hoffman stop writing editorials and publicly declare it, as David did, it is a signal to subscribers, and the newspaper lost, I think, 250,000 of its subscribers. I also canceled my subscription because there is no point in reading a newspaper that does not have the courage to stand up to its owner.
What will happen next with freedom of speech in the United States, how much Trump will pressure the media, primarily, of course, the owners, is hard to say now. The First Amendment to the Constitution, protecting freedom of speech and press rights — is the most important part of American democracy. And perhaps now, when Trump returns to the White House with such triumph, it is under threat.
Along with Trump, a lot of completely new people are coming into the administration. A large team worked on the lists of those who will surround Trump. In the previous term, among Trump's closest circle were many generals. Practically all these generals during Trump's presidential campaign spoke out sharply against him. And, by the way, as is customary here, Joe Biden signed what is probably his last decree, which pardoned "forward" people who may be prosecuted by Trump. This includes, first of all, all congressmen who were part of the commission investigating the events of January 6, 2021, when in this very rotunda, where Trump is now speaking, completely unruly young and not-so-young people were smashing everything and fighting with the police to let them into the hall, so they could deal with Senator Nancy Pelosi and Vice President in Trump's administration Mike Pence, to stop the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. Biden pardoned ahead all members of the commission, including Republican Liz Cheney, the daughter of the Vice President in George W. Bush's administration and an active anti-Trumpist. He also pardoned the former head of the US Army staff Milley, who wrote a very sharp book about Trump and the time when this very respected four-star general was in the White House, and who has reason to fear that Trump may sic his Justice Department on him. Biden, of course, said that he hopes that the rule of law in America will be preserved under Trump, but nevertheless decided to insure his supporters, whom Trump considers his enemies. Among them is Anthony Fauci, who was the chief epidemiologist of the United States during the COVID epidemic, and a number of other people.
Photo: Keystone Press Agency/Global Look Press
Among Trump's supporters in the rotunda, Elon Musk is especially noticeable, raising his hands, showing a thumbs-up, and demonstrating his joy in every way. Musk, as is known, made incredible money on his closeness to Trump.
We were also shown Tucker Carlson, the very propagandist who interviewed Vladimir Putin, he is here in the rotunda. At the same time, many famous people are not here. It is visible how the hall is divided: when Trump utters slogans that are pleasant to his supporters' ears, they stand up, while others continue to sit. I did not see here, in the hall, Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the leader of the Democratic majority, whose husband was attacked in California. She is one of those who persuaded Joe Biden to announce that he would not run, and then Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the USA, entered this campaign. Kamala Harris raised a billion dollars in donations, nevertheless, she lost, and lost seriously, primarily by electoral votes — lost the entire Midwest and Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, very important swing states.
Despite the fact that both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were very active in the campaign, it turned out unsuccessfully for the Democrats, and Trump won a very impressive victory. He won in various groups, both age and gender, he managed to attract many African American men to his side. Latinos voted for him. So it was a convincing victory. And now we have very interesting four years ahead. Especially interesting, I think, will be the first months of 2025.
* Evgenia Albats is declared a "foreign agent" in Russia.