If all goes as expected, Donald Trump will take the oath of office on Monday, Jan. 20, and become the next President of the United States.
This is important, of course, as is whatever Trump says in his inaugural speech. But what I’m really looking forward to is the crowd estimate.
Not the one from the National Park Service or the Washington, D.C. police force. The one from whomever Trump trots out in front of the media the next day to claim that his crowd was big, bigger, maybe the biggest there ever was. The demonstrably false and unexpectedly feisty claim that the crowd for Trump’s 2017 inauguration was larger than that for Barack Obama’s really set the tone for the media’s relationship with Sean Spicer, the press secretary you may remember as a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars” after his usefulness to Trump expires. (Spicer later said he regretted berating reporters about it.)
When is Donald Trump’s inauguration?
But first things first.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Trump’s inauguration is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Arizona time on Monday, Jan. 20. Every broadcast and cable news network plans to carry it live; coverage of the event will start hours earlier and continue after the speech and the ceremony ended.
Half of the TV audience will watch with admiration, the other half with horror. That’s not a value judgment. That’s just how it is right now. But you should watch, no matter which category you find yourself in. A new president’s inaugural speech is a ceremony, yes, a formal function, but it’s also a preview of what is to come during the next administration.
It also represents the miracle of democracy, the peaceful transfer of power. This has never been interrupted, though not for lack of Trump’s trying to after the 2020 election.
Trump, of course, did not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, slinking off to continue with the false claim that the election had been stolen from him (he’s still doing it). Now he’s back for a second term. Biden will attend, as will Kamala Harris, who Trump defeated in the 2024 election. So will former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, though they won’t attend the inaugural lunch afterward. Read into that what you will.
Remember Trump’s 2017 speech and ‘American carnage?’
Perhaps you recall Donald Trump‘s 2017 inauguration.
People were still somewhat surprised that Trump had won the election, but the shock mostly had worn off, and the nation was readying itself for his presidency. The accepted wisdom among many people in media at the time was that Trump talked a big game but would probably run the country like a caretaker CEO, surrounding himself with competent professionals who would make sure no matter what their boss’ threats and boasts, they would keep the country on track. A lot of the pre-inaugural warm-up coverage leaned into this. Surely, his inaugural address would reflect it.
And then he opened his mouth and began to speak.
You could practically hear the jaws of political pundits everywhere hitting the floors of their newsrooms as Trump vowed to put a stop to what he called “this American carnage.” He talked about crime and gangs and drugs and rusted-out factories littering the landscape “like tombstones.”
It was as divisive and as bleak as it gets. It was also astonishing television. Talk about your plot twists.
Say this for the guy. He was not peddling false advertising.
Will Trump’s inaugural address shock us again?
The coverage of that inaugural address was a mix of shock and a wake-up call to what was coming so strong he might as well have dumped buckets of ice on reporters’ heads.
So how do you top that? Although “top” may not be the right word. Trump, of all people, knows the value of entertainment, of not only giving the audience what it wants but something more, a push beyond what they expect. Will he be more conciliatory? More inclusive?
Are you kidding? The Trump brand was new, at least in political terms, in 2017. Eight years later, we know where he stands on just about everything and how he defends those stances. He often misrepresents Biden’s record and the state of things in the U.S. This isn’t anything particularly unusual; candidates do it all the time.
But we know now, after his first term — and after his first inaugural speech set the tone for what followed — that he never lets up. If anything, he’s more emboldened, and if his speech on Monday doesn’t lean into that confidence, that will be the surprise.
To paraphrase another president, here we go again.
How to watch Donald Trump’s inauguration
10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 20, on all broadcast and cable news networks.
Joe Biden’s says goodbye:Fox News trashed the speech. CNN called it the ‘best’
Reach Goodykoontz at [email protected]. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Subscribe to the weekly WatchList newsletter.
This post was originally published on here
