The first significant fight of Donald Trump’s first term was about inauguration crowd sizes.
Trump had claimed that the crowds at his inauguration were larger than those at Barack Obama’s two ceremonies, even though it was clear to anyone with eyes that this was not true. Then, he sent out then-White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer to double down on the lie and then got angry at Spicer for not making the case convincingly enough.
Comparing the crowds at Donald Trump’s and Barack Obama’s inaugurations https://t.co/U4dIVzCKbH pic.twitter.com/zf8hxVDMpO
— The New York Times (@nytimes) January 20, 2017
President Biden’s inauguration in 2021 was much smaller than any of the previous ones since it was conducted under pandemic conditions. With Trump being inaugurated again on Monday, the National Park Service announced in advance that it would not be releasing crowd estimates as it long did. It stopped doing so for major events on the National Mall back in the 1990s after the crowd size estimates for the 1995 Million Man March became a political controversy.
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At any rate, Trump’s inauguration this year will be different from previous ones in a key way: It’s happening indoors.
January 20th cannot come fast enough! Everybody, even those that initially opposed a Victory by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration, just want it to happen. It is my obligation to protect the People of our Country but, before we even begin, we have to think of…
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) January 17, 2025
Trump, on Truth Social Friday, announced that the inauguration on Monday will take place inside the Capitol Rotunda due to frigid temperatures rather than on the steps outside. This will be the first inauguration to take place indoors since Ronald Reagan’s second one, in 1985.
“The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country,” Trump said in the Truth Social post. “I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way. It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of Law Enforcement, First Responders, Police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th.”
Trump had begun this newsy post on a note of hostility, stating that “January 20th cannot come fast enough! Everybody, even those that initially opposed a Victory by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration, just want it to happen.”
Capitol One Arena in Washington, where Trump is holding a “victory rally” on Sunday, will also be opened for the inauguration.
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
