The cold weather has thrown President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration into chaos, as Monday’s ceremony will be moved inside due to frigid temperatures.
High temperatures are expected to be in the low 20s in the nation’s capital on Monday. It’s projected to be the coldest inauguration in 40 years, when Ronald Reagan’s swearing-in ceremony was also moved indoors.
“I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda, as was used by Ronald Reagan in 1985, also because of very cold weather,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Friday.
Dignitaries and guests will also be brought into the Capitol building. “This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience!” he said.
Trump wrote: “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. 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 (In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly!).”
The Capitol One arena, where Trump is planning to host a rally the day before he’s sworn into his second term, will be opened for the “LIVE viewing of this Historic event, and to host the Presidential Parade,” he said, noting that he plans to join the crowd there after he’s sworn in.
While Trump joins Reagan in the rare tradition in holding the ceremony indoors, one president probably should have done the same: William Henry Harrison. He may have delivered the longest inaugural address in history, he served the shortest presidency. He died just one month after his inauguration from pneumonia, thought to have been brought on by his exposure to the frigid and wet conditions that day, according to the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies.
The move comes eight years after Trump obsessed about the crowd size at his first inauguration.
Former Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush will be at the event. While Michelle Obama will not be in attendance, Laura Bush and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will reportedly join their husbands for the January 20 swearing-in ceremony.
The Office of Barack and Michelle Obama, which announced that the former first lady would be absent, provided no explanation as to why she would be skipping Trump’s inauguration. She was also the only spouse of a former president absent from Jimmy Carter’s funeral last week at Washington National Cathedral.
California Rep. and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also not planning to attend, but billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg are planning to be there.
