Washington DC:

Donald Trump, who is set to take charge as the 47th President of the United States of America, reached Washington on Sunday morning, ahead of his inauguration ceremony marking his return to the White House. The incoming President’s inaugural weekend began with a star-studded 500-member reception at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, which included his cabinet nominees Pete Hegseth and Lee Zeldin.

The incoming commander-in-chief posted a nearly 15-minute video from the event showcasing him and First Lady Melania standing beside each other on a balcony at his golf club and applauding the massive pyrotechnic display. Towards the end of the video, the soon-to-be President can be seen shaking his leg and performing one of his signature dance moves in front of the crowd.

Trump Inauguration Gala Details 

Celebrations Start -Mr Trump’s inaugural ceremony includes 18 galas, with three official events that the Present-elect is expected to attend. The celebrations kicked off with a gala at Trump National Golf Club in Virginia on Sunday. Following this, the President-elect arrived in Washington DC, where he’s expected to participate in a rally and a candlelit dinner with supporters today. 

On Sunday alone, Mr Trump is scheduled to hold a major “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” at Capital One Arena for his supporters. This will be the first such event in the US capital that Mr Trump will address since his speech at the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, which led to the Capital riots. Later in the evening, he is also scheduled to attend a candlelight dinner with his supporters.

The Inauguration Ceremony-  Mr Trump will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States at 12 pm EST (10:30 pm IST) on Monday as the US Constitution mandates that each new president’s term begins at noon on January 20 (or the day after if it falls on a Sunday). The oath is most often administered by the Supreme Court chief justice, and Monday would mark John Roberts’s second time officiating for Trump.

The First Address- The new president is then expected to deliver an inaugural address, laying out his plans for the next four years. The Republican rang in his first term in 2017 by evoking “American carnage.” Incoming vice president JD Vance will also be sworn in during the event.

Inaugural Luncheon- Following the ceremony, the President, along with their spouse, Vice President, Senate leaders, and distinguished guests, would be escorted to Statuary Hall in the US Capitol for a celebratory luncheon hosted by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC). 

Oval Office Signings- In the first act as the President after taking the oath, Mr Trump is likely to participate in a traditional signing of executive orders, officially beginning his second administration. The incoming President has pledged to fulfil a number of his poll promises on Day 1 by signing executive orders, but it is not clear what issues will be first up. Mr Trump is likely to reinstate some executive orders from his first term that President Biden had revoked.

Inaugural Balls- The signing in the Oval Office will be followed by three official inaugural balls on Monday evening. Mr Trump is expected to attend all three galas — the Commander in Chief Ball, the Liberty Ball and the Starlight Ball. More than a dozen other events are also planned.

National Prayer Service- Mr Trump will be hosted by the Washington National Cathedral, the sexy day after his inauguration at 11 am (9:30 pm IST) on Tuesday for an interfaith prayer service. The service will mark the official conclusion of the inauguration celebrations.

Change In Swearing-In Venue

While US presidents traditionally assume their powers outdoors in front of the Capitol building, with a large crowd of spectators witnessing the ceremony, Mr Trump on Friday said he would move the event inside the Capitol Rotunda amid forecasts of extreme cold.

Crowd size is a preoccupation of  Mr Trump’s, but the last-minute switch to an indoor event may dent his bragging rights. More than 220,000 tickets were being distributed to the public before the incoming President’s announcement of shifting the venue to the Capitol Rotunda, which can accommodate only about 600 people.

Trump said supporters could watch a live feed from Washington’s Capital One sports arena, which holds up to 20,000 — and he promised to drop in later. “This will be a very beautiful experience for all,” the president-elect said.

Presidential Parade 

The president’s inaugural parade will be held inside for the first since 1985. The parade, which has followed the presidential entourage down Pennsylvania Avenue as far back as 1805, will march on inside Capital One Arena on Monday.

The move comes after Mr Trump on Friday announced that he would take oath and deliver his inaugural address inside the US Capitol Rotunda and promoted Capital One Arena as essentially a massive watch party venue for his oath of office and inaugural address

Musical Affair

Mr Trump’s inauguration 2.0 will be a star-studded affair, with country star Carrie Underwood singing “America the Beautiful” during the swearing-in ceremony.

Also performing will be country singer Lee Greenwood, whose patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA” is standard at Trump rallies.

A pre-inauguration rally on Sunday will include a performance by the Village People, whose 1970s-era “Y.M.C.A.” is another Trump event staple, in addition to Kid Rock and Billy Ray Cyrus. Country musicians including Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts and Gavin DeGraw plus the Village People will perform across Trump’s three official inaugural balls.

Inaugural Lunch

The event became an integral part of the day’s events in 1897, when the Senate Committee on Arrangements arranged a meal for President William McKinley, symbolizing the transition of power and the beginning of a new administration.

The menu for Donald Trump’s 2025 Inaugural Luncheon has not been revealed yet, but it is likely to follow patterns of previous occasions and may include the great American classic cuisines. As Mr Trump reportedly enjoys simple, savoury meals, he might include steak with some lobster, together with exquisite sweets. The Gulf shrimp and regional American flavours were part of his inauguration in 2017.

Guest List

The Republican has invited a number of tech titans to attend the inauguration, joining more traditional guests such as his cabinet nominees. Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will attend as will Shou Chew, the head of Chinese social media giant TikTok, according to US media.

Mr Trump has courted closer ties with the tech moguls, and his campaign benefited from disinformation spread on social media platforms such as TikTok, Musk’s X and Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram.

Outgoing President Joe Biden will also attend the ceremony — despite Trump’s refusal to appear at Biden’s swearing-in when he beat Trump in 2020. All living former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — will attend, as will their wives, except for Michelle Obama.

That means Hillary Clinton, whom Trump beat in the 2016 presidential election, in addition to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he beat in November, will be there. 

Heads of state are not traditionally invited, but Trump has sent invitations to a handful of foreign leaders, including some who share his right-wing politics. Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will attend, her office confirmed Saturday.

Hungary’s Viktor Orban, Argentine President Javier Milei and China’s Xi Jinping have also been invited, but not all will attend. 

Executive Orders

Mr Trump said he is preparing to sign multiple executive orders as early as his first day in office, aimed at undoing many of the Biden administration’s policies.

Among other promises, he has pledged to launch a mass deportation program and increase oil drilling. He has also said he might immediately begin pardoning January 6 rioters, his followers who ransacked the Capitol in 2021. Immediately after the inauguration a meeting is planned between US officials and foreign ministers from Japan, India and Australia, the so-called “Quad” which the Biden administration saw as a counterweight to an assertive China. 

As President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration inches closer, residents of Washington DC want to flee and not be around “that sort of hostile negative energy”.

With only 2 days left till Trump assumes office, residents are planning to stay away from the event.

Alejandra Whitney-Smith, a DC resident, has already made plans to leave the city and spend a week in a cabin without technology, the Guardian reported. “It [inauguration weekend] coincides with my birthday weekend, which I usually do spend in DC, but when the election happened, I told myself, ‘Oh, no, I can’t be here,'” she said.

Speaking about the re-election of Trump, she said it “represents the ugly side of America that people don’t want to acknowledge”.

She recalled the fear that crept up in Smith when her mother was working at the Library of Congress during the January 6th US Capitol attack by supporters of Trump two months after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.

She further plans to do some vision boarding, reflection and reconnection, during the inauguration weekend.

Expressing her dismay she admitted that she had a lot of faith that people of the United States witnessed what happened during Trump’s first term and would not “regress”, but also added that she knew people of America were not ready for their first Black woman president.

“But I also know the reality of living in this country as a Black woman. As much as I wanted Harris to win, there was something in me that still told me that America is not ready for their first Black woman president. Not only that, she was running against Donald Trump who has an almost cult-like following that is so powerful”, she said.

Tia Butler, another DC resident says that the memories of the January 6 riot and encountering pro-life protesters after the 2020 election makes her “not want to be in the city during the inauguration festivities.” She says that her views are very different from the supporters of the president-elect. “It says to me that we’d rather have a criminal leading our country than a person of color, or a criminal rather than a woman”, she added.

But this showcases one side of America. On the flip side, many conservatives and Republican supporters are excited about the inauguration. As of Wednesday, hotels in the city were 70% booked and fetching $900 to $1,500 a night.

Having said that, Trump does not have the best relationship with Washington DC. He labelled DC as a “filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to our nation” and has even vowed to radically rebuild the capital, recruiting billionaire Elon Musk to slash the federal workforce.
 

Washington:

The use of executive orders has been a staple of presidential power in the United States, allowing presidents to unilaterally implement policies and decisions. Since 1937, only three U.S. presidents have issued executive orders on their first day in office. This exclusive group includes Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and Bill Clinton.

President-elect Donald Trump’s vow to implement several policy promises on his first day back in the White House has sparked interest in the history of executive orders. If Trump signs an executive order on his first day, it will be the fourth time since 1937 that a U.S. president has done so. This is based on an analysis of executive order data from the Office of the Federal Register by the Hearst Television Data Team.

The Federal Register tracks all executive orders signed by presidents beginning in 1937, excluding former President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first-term executive orders. An executive order is a powerful tool that carries the force of law, allowing presidents to implement their campaign promises or pursue policy goals that may face opposition or roadblocks in Congress.

A notable example of the use of executive orders is former President Barack Obama’s decision to raise the minimum wage for federal contract workers from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour in 2014. When lawmakers failed to act, Obama signed an executive order to increase the minimum wage. This highlights the ability of presidents to use executive orders to bypass Congressional opposition.

President Joe Biden holds the record for the most executive orders signed on the first day and first week in office. On his first day, Biden issued nine executive orders, six of which reversed orders from the Trump administration. These reversals included rescinding policies targeting communities that shielded undocumented immigrants from deportation and requiring the use of face masks in federal buildings and lands.

Biden’s use of executive orders during his first week in office was prolific, with a total of 22 orders signed. This sets a high bar for Trump, who would need to sign more than 22 executive orders on his first day to surpass Biden’s record.

Biden ended 100 days of his term with 42 executive orders and a total of 160 during his presidency.

In terms of the number of executive orders signed during their presidencies, President Franklin D. Roosevelt holds the record, with a staggering 2,023 executive orders signed during his second and third terms. Roosevelt’s unprecedented 12 years in office allowed him to use executive orders to tackle the Great Depression, carry out New Deal programs, and handle World War II.

Other notable presidents in terms of executive orders include Truman, who signed 906 executive orders, and Clinton, who signed 364 executive orders. On the other end of the spectrum, President George H.W. Bush issued the second-fewest executive orders, with a total of 46 executive orders signed in 1991.

In conclusion, the use of executive orders is a powerful tool available to U.S. presidents, allowing them to implement policies and decisions unilaterally. With President-elect Donald Trump vowing to implement several policy promises on his first day back in the White House, it will be interesting to see how he uses executive orders during his presidency.
 

Every four years America’s president is sworn in on Inauguration Day, whether newly elected or returning to office, in a long-established ceremony held amid pageantry shaped by the incoming leader’s personal flourishes.

What does that mean for the inauguration of Donald Trump? Queue the Village People and social media titans — and maybe plan to leave the mittens and scarves behind, following a last-minute decision to move the inauguration indoors.

Here is a preview of the pomp and circumstance that will unfold Monday when Trump is sworn in as the 47th president.

The oath

The U.S. Constitution mandates that each new president’s term begin at noon on January 20 (or the day after if it falls on a Sunday), and that the president take the oath of office.

In recent years, presidents have been sworn in from an enormous temporary platform located on the Capitol’s scenic West Lawn, overlooking the National Mall.

The oath is most often administered by the Supreme Court chief justice, and Monday would mark John Roberts’s second time officiating for Trump.

The new president also delivers an inaugural address, laying out his plans and vision for the next four years. The Republican rang in his first term in 2017 with a particularly dark speech evoking “American carnage.”

Incoming vice president JD Vance will also be sworn in.

The guests

In one of the inauguration’s most Trumpian twists, the Republican has invited a number of tech titans to attend as VIPs. They will sit alongside other more traditional guests such as his cabinet nominees.

Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will attend as will Shou Chew, the head of Chinese social media giant TikTok, according to US media.

Not only has Mr. Trump courted closer ties with the tech moguls, but his campaign benefited from disinformation spread on social media platforms such as TikTok, Musk’s X and Zuckerberg’s Facebook and Instagram.

Outgoing president Joe Biden will attend the ceremony — despite Mr. Trump’s refusal to appear at Mr. Biden’s swearing in when he beat Mr. Trump in 2020.

All living former presidents — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama — will attend, as will their wives, except for Michelle Obama.

That means Hillary Clinton, whom Trump beat in the 2016 presidential election, in addition to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he beat in November, will be there.

Heads of state are not traditionally invited, but Trump bucked that trend, sending invitations to the far-right prime ministers of Italy and Hungary, Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orban, as well as Argentine President Javier Milei and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Not all will attend, however.

A move indoors

Crowd size is a preoccupation of Trump’s, but the last-minute switch to holding the event indoors will change that.

More than 220,000 tickets were being distributed to the public via lawmakers’ offices before Trump announced Friday that frigid temperatures meant the inauguration would have to be moved inside the Capitol building.

The former and future president, who has built his political brand around staging large rallies, said supporters could watch the event on a live feed from Washington’s Capital One sports arena — and he promised to drop in there later.

“This will be a very beautiful experience for all,” he said.

Following the ceremony, Trump will travel in a parade down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.

“All other events will remain the same,” Trump said in his message.

The orders

Mr. Trump has indicated he is preparing to sign multiple executive orders as early as his first day in office, aimed at undoing many of the Biden administration’s policies.

Among multiple promises for day one, Trump has pledged to launch a mass deportation program and increase oil drilling. He has also said he might immediately begin pardoning January 6 rioters, his followers who ransacked the Capitol in 2021.

The music

Mr. Trump’s first inauguration in 2017 was marked by a lack of celebrity power, as the controversial reality star-turned-politician struggled to find A-list musicians willing to be associated with him.

Mr. Trump inauguration 2.0 is in slightly better shape.

Famed country singer Carrie Underwood will sing “America the Beautiful” during the swearing-in ceremony.

Also performing will be country singer Lee Greenwood, whose patriotic anthem “God Bless the USA” was a well-established Trump rally anthem.

A pre-inauguration rally Sunday will include a performance by the Village People, whose 1970s-era “Y.M.C.A.” was another Trump rally staple, in addition to Kid Rock and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Country musicians including Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts and Gavin DeGraw plus the Village People will perform across Trump’s three official inaugural balls.

The galas

Mr. Trump is expected to attend all three of his official inaugural galas on Monday night. More than a dozen others are also planned.

Apart from the balls, Mr. Trump will put on a “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” at Capital One Arena the night before inauguration.

New Delhi:

From world leaders to tech giants to business tycoons, the who’s who across the globe is hoping for a pass to the January 20 event at the Capitol building in Washington DC in which Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 47th President of the US. Vice-President JD Vance will take the oath at the same ceremony. Invites have gone out to major world powers and the US’ key allies, including India. Industry leaders, meanwhile, are jostling for a VIP pass they can use to get into the good books of the incoming administration.

Dr S Jaishankar Is India’s Representative

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar will represent India at the January 20 event, the government announced today. “On the invitation of the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Dr. S. Jaishankar will represent the Government of India at the Swearing-In Ceremony of President-Elect Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement this morning.

“During the visit, EAM will also have meetings with representatives of the incoming Administration, as also some other dignitaries visiting the US on that occasion,” the statement said.

There is no clarity yet on the people Dr Jaishankar will be meeting during his trip, but New Delhi will look to ensure that the change of guard in the US adds momentum to the bilateral ties that have grown over the past several years.

Which World Leaders Are Attending

Traditionally, world leaders are not invited to the inauguration ceremony of the US President. But Trump has broken tradition this time. The Republican leader has sent personal invites to some leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping. This is significant against the backdrop of the geopolitical rivalry between Washington DC and Beijing. Confirming the invite to Xi, Trump spokeswoman Karolie Leavitt said during a show on Fox News, “This is an example of President Trump creating an open dialogue with leaders of countries that are not just allies but our adversaries and our competitors, too.”

The Chinese president is unlikely to attend the event, Vice President Han Zheng or Foreign Minister Wang Yi may be sent to the US.

A CNN report quoting sources has said El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentinean President Javier Milei have also been invited by Team Trump. His team did not respond to questions about other leaders.

Trump Wants A ‘World Stage’: Report

Last month, shortly after his victory in the US polls, Trump visited Paris on the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was damaged in a fire in 2019. There, he met a battery of world leaders, including UK’s Prince William and Italy’s Meloni.

“It was something really beautiful. And a lot of world leaders, there were about 80 world leaders, different countries, and they were all coming together,” he said.

According to Team Trump, the Republican leader wants his inauguration to be a similar event. “Trump is very eager to have world leaders at the inauguration. He wants a global stage,” one of his advisors has told CNN.

This will, however, pose massive security challenges for the US Secret Service which will need to ensure protection for multiple heads of state and accommodate their respective security profiles.

There is another major challenge. Many of these invites have been extended in passing during an interaction on other matters. Some of them have been through back channels. CNN has reported that the freewheeling nature of the invites has made it difficult for even Trump’s closest aides to keep track of everyone who has received an invitation. “I’ve invited a lot of great people, and they’ve all accepted,” Trump has said. “Everybody I’ve invited has accepted.”

Corporates Line Up With Big Donations

Eager to please the new administration, industry leaders have made massive financial contributions to the inauguration event. According to a report in The New York Times, the inaugural committee has raised over 170 million dollars and is well on its way to crossing the 200 million dollar mark.

Aviation giant Boeing has pledged 1 million dollars for the event. Google, Meta and Microsoft have said they have made similar donations. The list also includes Chevron, Amazon and Uber. Also on the list are Apple CEO Tim Cook and his OpenAI counterpart Sam Altman, who have pledged donations of 1 million dollars each.

The scale of donation this time is best understood when in contrast to the 2021 inauguration of outgoing President Joe Biden, which raised a much smaller kitty — about 62 million dollars. In 2017, when Trump took oath as President for his first term, he had raised a record 107 million dollars, which is set to be broken this time.

VIP Passes Run Out

According to a report in The New York Times, several key donors have been told they won’t get VIP tickets because there is no space. The personalised donation link that fund-raisers had circulated to their networks of major contributors no longer worked on Tuesday and Wednesday. The packages offered to corporate and individual donors had originally been marketed as available through Friday, but ended early due to the extraordinary demand. “Space is limited,” read the marketing materials for the donor packages.

So, individual donors will now have to obtain free tickets available to the public through members of Congress to get a seat at the event. These passes, however, will not provide the access industry leaders look for in an inauguration.

“Seats at the inaugural address, tickets to the ritzy balls or access to other events are typically a major part of why major donors cut checks. Inaugural events are a key time for the lobbying industry, and they draw donations from corporations and wealthy donors eager to gain influence or make amends with a new administration,” the NYT report says, explaining why VIP passes are important.

Those who have contributed 1 million dollars or two million dollars were supposed to be entitled to six tickets each for six different events, according to an updated list of benefits, the NYT reported. These events include the swearing-in ceremony and a sought-after “candlelight dinner” on January 19 with Trump and his wife, Melania.