Biden's inauguration will not be a bang. It will be a whimper.
nymag.com Everything We Know About Joe Biden’s Inauguration
Charlotte Klein
Coming in the midst of a worsening pandemic, Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20 will inevitably look much different from his predecessors’. His inaugural committee has laid out plans that attempt to model behavior in line with public-health guidance while preserving some pomp and political tradition. Here’s everything we know about the swearing-in of the 46th president, from efforts to limit crowd size to whether the outgoing president, Donald Trump, will even show up.
As in previous years, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office at the U.S. Capitol — but the audience will be drastically pared back, as Biden’s inaugural committee is urging Americans not to attend in person and capping the number of available tickets. While members of Congress typically receive 200,000 inauguration tickets to hand out among their constituents, lawmakers this year will receive only two tickets — one for themselves and one for a guest, the Washington Post reports. The inaugural committee has emphasized that strict health and safety protocols will be in place for those who do attend; the committee has hired a chief medical adviser, Dr. David Kessler, to help organize the event in accordance with such protocols, according to the Wall Street Journal.
After the swearing-in ceremony, Biden and Harris will participate in a “Pass in Review,” a review of troops meant to reflect a peaceful transfer of power, according to the New York Times. Next, Biden will deliver his inaugural address before a limited number of government officials.
Biden and Harris are then set to receive a “presidential escort,” including representatives of every branch of the military, for the roughly mile and a half trip to the White House from 15th Street. In a normal year, the inaugural parade attracts hundreds of thousands of people, who flank Pennsylvania Avenue to watch the newly sworn-in president head to the White House. But this year, the inaugural committee is replacing the traditional procession with the presidential escort for one city block and reimagining the parade in virtual form. The committee said this is meant to provide “the American people and world with historic images of the president-elect proceeding to the White House without attracting large crowds and gatherings.”
To demonstrate the importance of health and safety protocols aimed at stopping the spread of COVID-19, other inaugural activities will largely take place virtually. Biden’s team embraced the format throughout his campaign, and in December the president-elect said we should expect “something that is closer to what the convention was like than a typical inauguration.” On Monday, Biden’s inaugural committee offered some details, announcing that a “virtual parade” will take the place of the traditional in-person inaugural parade and balls. “The planned programming is expected to feature Americans across the country along with musical acts, local bands and poets to pay tribute to frontline workers during the pandemic,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
To help fund the event, Biden’s inaugural committee is accepting up to $500,000 in donations from individuals and up to $1 million from corporations, and rewards for those donors will largely be virtual, too. The reported perks for someone who gives $500,000 or bundles $1 million for the inauguration include invitations to virtual briefings with Biden leadership, access to “preferred viewing” for the virtual inauguration, and invitations to virtual events with Biden, Harris, and their spouses.
Among the long-standing inaugural activities that have been called off owing to the pandemic is the post-inauguration luncheon, where members of Congress formally welcome the new president and vice-president. The luncheon, a symbolic display of bipartisanship during the transfer of power, was initially set to occur in a modified format that would involve instituting new health and safety protocols, but after consulting with Biden’s inaugural planners, the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies canceled it altogether, Bloomberg reported.
The inaugural committee said it will honor those who have died from the coronavirus in a ceremony on January 19, the day before Biden is to be sworn in. The memorial will take place at 5:30 p.m. ET and will include a lighting ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. “The committee said it is also inviting cities and towns around the country to light buildings and ring church bells at the same time,” according to the Post.
On Inauguration Day, it is tradition for the sitting president and the president’s spouse to welcome the incoming president and spouse to the White House for a morning coffee, after which the two leaders take a limousine ride together to the Capitol for the swearing-in ceremony. Whether Trump will participate in that customary passing of the torch — or any aspect of Biden’s inauguration — remains to be seen. There’s rampant speculation about Trump’s Inauguration Day plans: Theories include Trump refusing to leave the White House, fleeing to his golf resort in Scotland (which Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said would violate coronavirus restrictions), and announcing a 2024 run on Air Force One in an attempt to steal the spotlight from Biden.
Trump, who refuses to concede and is currently engaged in a futile struggle to overturn the election, would be the first president in the last century to sit out a successor’s inauguration. Biden has said he views Trump attending the swearing-in ceremony as important “not in a personal sense” but “for the country,” as it would depict “a peaceful transfer of power with the competing parties standing there, shaking hands and moving on.”
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