National Post (National Edition)
GAGA, DUBYA AND A WHOLE MESS OF TROOPS
INSIDE THE VERY STRANGE, HIGH-SECURITY INAUGURATION DAY
On Wednesday, Joe Biden is set to put his hand on Abraham Lincoln's family Bible and officially become the 46th president of the United States. As with most U.S. political matters lately, the ceremony is poised to be a dramatic mess of awkward new precedents.
Here are all the ways the 2021 inauguration is much, much weirder than normal.
THE OUTGOING PRESIDENT IS, ER, NOT GOING (WHICH HASN'T HAPPENED FOR 150 YEARS)
Throughout his time as commander-in-chief, Trump has proved willing to avoid attending boring presidential things he didn't feel like doing. He repeatedly ghosted the White House Correspondents' Dinner, he became the first president in a century to dispense with an official visit to Canada, and now he's announced he's not going to sit through the inauguration of his successor. While rare, this is not unprecedented, and was much more common in the duelling-heavy early days of U.S. politics. John Adams, John Quincy Adams and Andrew Johnson all bitterly sat out the swearing-in of the men who unseated them, and a just-resigned Richard Nixon was already well on his way to his San Clemente residence when Gerald Ford took his job in 1974. Reportedly, Trump is going to spend Inauguration Day 1,000 miles away from Washington, D.C., at Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach, Florida, resort.
THIS IS THE HIGHEST SECURITY INAUGURATION IN HISTORY
In 1964, only months after his predecessor's head had been in the sights of a sniper rifle, Lyndon Johnson's inaugural didn't have all that much more security than a Thanksgiving Day parade. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln had to sneak into Washington in disguise in order to evade credible assassination threats from the emerging Southern insurrection, yet he still attended his inauguration with little more than a few private security guards. But Joe Biden's peacetime inauguration will be protected by an estimated 25,000 National Guard troops, all of whom were carefully screened by the FBI to weed out potential fifth-columnists. The stated reason is obvious; Washington is less than two weeks removed from the embarrassing spectacle of a lightly armed mob having the full run of the Capitol. Nevertheless, the scale of the security measures are virtually unprecedented in modern U.S. history, with the entire core of the city closed to vehicle traffic for several days leading up to the event. For context, the 25,000 troops guarding the United States' already high-security capital represent an incredible one-seventh of the 177,194 troops the U.S. sent to invade Iraq in 2003. The 1983 Invasion of Grenada, meanwhile, was pulled off with only 7,300 U.S. troops.
THE ENTERTAINMENT IS, NATURALLY, WAY BETTER
Republican presidents have long struggled with drumming up good non-country acts for their inaugurations. While Bill Clinton was able to summon Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson and a Fleetwood Mac reunion at his first inaugural in 1993, eight years later George W. Bush had to content himself with Ricky Martin, Destiny's Child and Wayne Newton. With Trump's presidency having proved particularly distasteful to the celebrity class he once inhabited, Biden's entertainment bookers are now reaping the benefits: Jennifer Lopez, Bruce Springsteen, Lady Gaga, Tom Hanks, John Legend and the Foo Fighters, among others. Country legend Garth Brooks, who's been a regular at inaugurations since the 1980s, will also be making an appearance, joking that he might be the “only Republican” there.
DOZENS OF DEMOCRATS BOYCOTTED IN 2017, BUT EVEN HARDCORE
TRUMPERS ARE SHOWING UP FOR BIDEN
Biden will actually be taking the oath of office beneath the gaze of hundreds of Republicans. Most notably, confirmed attendees at the event include a core group of Republican senators, such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who led 11th hour efforts to reject electoral college votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona and thus delay Biden's election. They will be joined by a who's who of top Republicans, including Vice President Mike Pence and outgoing Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spent Tuesday blaming Trump for provoking the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. This is in contrast to 2017, when more than 50 Democratic members of Congress sat out Trump's swearing-in, spurred in part by Trump's pre-inauguration decision to lambaste Georgia congressman (and former civil rights leader) John Lewis on Twitter. And while Trump's seat will be empty on Wednesday, inauguration proceedings will be attended by every living non-Jimmy Carter president. Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and George W. Bush (all of whom are younger than Biden, by the way) will be joining in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Jimmy Carter probably wanted to come, but as a 96-year-old in the midst of a pandemic, not attending public gatherings is a no-brainer.
THERE'S STILL A PANDEMIC ON, OF COURSE, SO THIS IS A DRAMATICALLY SCALED-DOWN EVENT
The U.S. was in the thick of the Second World War when Franklin D. Roosevelt attended his unprecedented fourth inauguration in 1944. Then, as now, it was considered uncouth to hold glitzy black-tie celebrations in the midst of globe-spanning genocidal war, so organizers contented themselves with a quick ceremony on the back porch of the White House, followed by a three-minute speech. Similarly, thanks to COVID-19, this year's festivities will dispense with an inaugural ball and parade, and the usual inaugural prayer service will be done virtually. Under normal circumstances, crowds would be expected to number in the millions: Given that Washington, D.C., is one of the most reliably blue jurisdictions in the entire United States, Democratic presidents usually enjoy large inauguration crowds, such as the nearly two million who showed up for Obama in 2009. But organizers are actively discouraging public attendance, including taking the areas usually filled with spectators and filling them with flags. With borders closed, the stands will also be clear of foreign dignitaries, although this is in keeping with tradition. The United States generally doesn't like inviting non-Americans to its inaugurations in order to project an aura of neutrality and independence. As presidential scholar Lara Brown told an official State Department press briefing last week “we want to kind of initiate our president as kind of an open book and a neutral player who's going to come in and engage in foreign policy as they see fit.”
WHAT HAPPENS TO TRUMP NOW?
If Trump finds himself aboard Air Force One at the moment Biden takes the oath of office, the first thing that happens is that the pilot will change the aircraft's call sign from “Air Force One” to “Special Air Mission 28000”; the former moniker is only to be used when a sitting commander-in-chief is on board. Like all ex-presidents, Trump will get Secret Service protection for the rest of his life, a US$200,000-a-year pension, federal help with his presidential library, and funding for a full-time “office of the ex-president.” For most ex-presidents of late, this is the period of their life when they start to rake in dumptrucks full of cash. Clinton's net worth surged from virtually broke to more than $200 million after leaving office. Barack and Michelle Obama are up to more than $70 million. But Trump, who entered office as the richest president in U.S. history, has seen dramatic plunges in his net worth over the past few months. COVID-19 hasn't helped, of course, but it remains to be seen whether the Trump Organization, which relies heavily on its namesake's personal branding, will be helped or hindered by his political legacy.