WASHINGTON – President Trump's inauguration on Monday in the Rotunda of the US Capitol seemed surreal at times.
Hundreds of the world's most powerful people – including every living president as well as billionaire tech executives – packed tightly into the 7,200-square-foot room after the ceremony was moved indoors due to a bitter cold snap that prevented the inauguration from taking place for the first time It hasn't taken place outside on the West Front of the Capitol in four decades.
Podcasters mingled with the president's family. Media and Silicon Valley titans held court alongside longtime GOP donors. Former presidents with clear political differences joked before the ceremony began.
Former President George W. Bush famously said, “That was some weird shit.” After Trump's 2017 inaugural speech, he was asked by an aide on Monday if he planned to behave just before entering the Rotunda. Former President Barack Obama answered on behalf of Bush: “No.”
The two men, sitting near former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and behind outgoing President Joe Biden and outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, appeared to continually comment on Trump's remarks. Former First Lady Laura Bush sat between Bush and Obama.
There were some notable absences — former first lady Michelle Obama, House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco and the former second lady Karen Pencewho particularly snubbed Trump at former President Jimmy Carter's state funeral on January 9th.
Her husband Mike Pence, who was Trump's vice president in his first term and whom insurrectionists called murderers during the Jan. 6 attempt to overturn Trump's 2020 defeat, was in attendance, as were former Vice President Dan Quayle and his wife Marilyn.
Pence previously said Trump's “reckless words” on Jan. 6 put everyone in the Capitol in danger that day, including him and his family. The former president and re-elected president responded by calling Pence “delusional.”
The ornate neoclassical venue where dignitaries gathered and Trump took his oath of office on Monday was ironic. It was the site where his supporters stormed as they tried to stop the certification of the 2020 election.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, chairwoman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, addressed the theme of the ceremony in her opening remarks.
“Today, President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance will take the oath of office and we will witness the peaceful transfer of power at the heart of our democracy,” said Klobuchar, who ran for president in 2020 before dropping out and endorsing Biden. “Our theme this year is our lasting democracy. The presence of so many presidents and vice presidents here today is truly a testament to that perseverance.”
She spoke to about 600 people under the rotunda's grand dome, packed tightly together in folding chairs that looked more like a high school graduation than a commencement ceremony.
Trump's cabinet members received fewer electoral seats than billionaire supporters such as Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. All members of the Supreme Court were present and the room was full of senators and members of the House of Representatives who spent much of their time taking selfies and videos for their supporters.