The US 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’ 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 Trump courted closer ties with the tech moguls, but his campaign benefitted 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 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 bucked that trend, sending invitations to the far-right Prime Ministers of Italy and Hungary, Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orban, as well as Argentina’s 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 on 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
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 programme 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
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.
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 on 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
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, Trump will put on a “Make America Great Again Victory Rally” at Capital One Arena the night before inauguration.
