On television, the day was split into two acts: Mr. Trump’s defiant exit followed by Mr. Biden’s triumphant arrival.
Inauguration Days have been relatively unchanged for decades, much like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Academy Awards broadcast or the Super Bowl. For TV producers, there is a playbook: The president-elect arrives at the White House to meet his predecessor; a motorcade heads to the Capitol; anchors talk poetically about the peaceful transfer of power.
On Wednesday, nearly a year into a pandemic that has killed more than 400,000 Americans, two weeks after a violent crowd of Trump supporters rioted at the Capitol, and one week after Mr. Trump became the first president to be impeached twice, there was a notably different tone.
“You don’t see a whole lot of tourists or spectators, you see a lot of police and military personnel,” Mr. Blitzer said on CNN shortly after 7 a.m., over shots of the elaborate security apparatus and deserted Washington streets. On CBS, the anchor Tony Dokoupil asked, “How did we get to the point where there are more law enforcement in Washington, D.C., than in overseas wars?”
A little past 8 a.m., news cameras were trained on Marine One, the presidential helicopter, as it swooped past the Washington Monument and settled onto the South Lawn of the White House, preparing to spirit the image-conscious Mr. Trump away on one last ride.
“It is a stunning moment,” said Mr. Tapper on CNN, as the president, in his trademark oversize red tie, and Melania Trump, in a jet-black Chanel ensemble, approaching the aircraft. (The Fox News anchor Ainsley Earhardt called the first lady’s outfit “a very Audrey Hepburn look.”)
The aerial view on every major network originated from a camera perched at the top of the Washington Monument. It provided a tableau that would not have been out of place in the opening credits of “The Apprentice,” complete with sunshine glinting off the surface of Marine One as it lifted into the sky, the soon-to-be-ex-president in tow.
