REFRESH FOR UPDATES …When Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are sworn in as the 46th President and 49th Vice President in an hour and a half, the setting will be like no other recent inauguration. The Capitol siege and the Covid-19 crisis that has seen more than 400,000 Americans dead, two legacies of Donald Trump’s failed presidency, loom over the ceremony, much as Biden’s team has tried to replicate the festivities of the past.
Like past inaugurals, the swearing in will take place outside on the steps of the Capitol as it has since 1801 when Thomas Jefferson took the oath of office as America’s third President. In fact, former Delaware Senator Biden and his wife Dr. Jill Biden have just arrived at the Capitol itself.
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Like most modern administrations, things will kick off for Biden and Harris with celebrity performers, including Lady Gaga, Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks. With all the cable newsers and broadcast networks covering the transfer of power, up on the West Front of Congress’ home there also will still be a media presence along with elected officials, families and friends, and some past Presidents – including one who offered his former VP a digital backslap this morning:
Congratulations to my friend, President @JoeBiden! This is your time. pic.twitter.com/LXzxGnBAfz
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 20, 2021
But everything is different too, in terms of scale, security and tone.
For one thing, in a nation battered by the coup attempt attack on the Capitol of two weeks ago and ravaged by the coronavirus, the petulant outgoing POTUS will be absent for the first time since 1869. After a flurry of pardons and commutations issued in the last hours of his term, Donald Trump scurried off early to start his post-presidency in Florida.
Coming off a morning visit to DC’s Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle with Congressional leadership, Biden and Harris’ inauguration is one of historic firsts too. Former California Senator Harris will be the first woman and the first person of color to be VP. At 78, Biden will be the oldest president on day one. Yet, the duo also are coming into office at a time of multiple crisis from the raging pandemic, faltering economy and rampant polarization.
In the place of hundreds of thousands of people on the National Mall, today there are 200,000 flags and 400 lights commemorating the horrors of the pandemic Instead of high stepping marching bands and floats, there are tens of thousands of members of the National Guard set to quell any attempted repeat of the January 6 insurrection incited by Trump
To help halt the further spread of Covid-19 as vaccine distribution has tragically faltered, the inaugural event itself will be socially distanced and masked. To balm some of the wounds of the last four years, Oval Office racism and violence, the heavily vetted troops and armed camp DC are a show of force hoping to scare off white supremacists and the alt-right. Though the event will be streamed more than ever before, the number of journalists credentialed for the ceremony is 1/10 of what it normally is.
This morning, as dignitaries began to arrive, the west front of the Capitol was a majestic scene compared to two weeks ago, when pro-Trump rioters stormed the complex and climbed atop the makeshift stage. Security was like none other. Bridges and many Metro stops were closed. At the still open Eastern Market station, about a mile from the Capitol, National Guard members holding automatic rifles were spaced about 10 feet apart at the stop.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is the chill. Although it is a relatively balmy 40 degrees in DC, a cold wind has kicked up at Capitol Hill.
That winter weather will not permeate all of today’s ceremony.
Under the veteran producing hands of Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss, the traditional inaugural parade has been reimagined into a hybrid affair. As part of a primetime special hosted by Tom Hanks, there will be a celebrity filled concert on Wednesday night, but much of it will be virtual.
Perhaps more than any time since the Civil War, national unity will be the theme of the often loquacious Biden’s speech, we hear.
In that vein, Washington, D.C. officials have been urging people to stay away from the militarized, locked down city, with many Metro stops and even bridges shut down out of fears of more domestic unrest.
“We hope that you and they will come back to Washington, D.C. to celebrate the 4th of July, and we will be able to have somewhat different, but still celebrations of our new administration. What do you think about that idea?” Mayor Muriel Bowser said on Tuesday, as if to signal that eventually things will be back to normal.
That is what Biden promised during his campaign, and what he likely will also emphasize during his inaugural address, which is estimated to last about 20 minutes.
His campaign always had the simplest message of all of his rivals, that in the ever growing chaos of the Trump years it was he who was best positioned to restore some sanity.Having wrestled back control of the Senate with Democrats winning both of the seats in Georgia’s runoff races earlier this month, Biden’s apparently ambitious agenda for his first 100 days now has a much better chance of becoming reality and rolling back most of the former Celebrity Apprentice host’s reign of error and terror with a Day One flurry executive orders and soon to follow legislation.
In a 50-50 split upper chamber, Veep Harris will likely often be the deciding vote.
Biden and his running mate further established the direction they aim to take the nation with a service yesterday at the Lincoln Memorial to honor the American lives lost to Covid-19. In the occasion, where Biden and Harris spoke, The Washington National Cathedral bell rang out 400 times for the 400,000 dead, and 400 lights shone around the reflecting pool. Though the pandemic has raged for almost a year, Tuesday was the first such national service of memorial to the dead so far out of this trauma.
The contrast between the 45th and 46th POTUS is made all the more apparent by the tumult of the transition, one that will linger with a second Senate impeachment trial and ongoing arrests and other fallout from the Capitol assault.
What will be especially different come noon ET today is that Biden and Harris will finally have the spotlight to themselves, as Trump, as an ex-president banned from social media platforms, no longer will be able to automatically seize each news cycle – despite his worst attempts with a self-congratulatory exit this morning.
Still, a test of broadcast and cable networks, especially Fox News, will be whether they can resist temptation and maintain their focus on the new administration. We may even see them put to that very test today.
