Donald Trump’s inauguration will be moved indoors because of polar vortex
Donald Trump’s historic second swearing-in will be moved indoors due to dangerous weather forecasts that are expected to make the inauguration the coldest since 1985.
Meteorologists are predicting dangerously cold temperatures in DC on the day of the outdoor ceremony, with highs only in the 20s.
Trump posted on Truth Social that the swearing-in ceremony would be moved indoors to the Capitol Rotunda.
From there he would also deliver his inaugural speech.
To accommodate the MAGA crowds, the Capital One Arena — where Trump will hold his pre-inauguration rally on Sunday — will open for a viewing party.
Wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour will blast through the layers of the hundreds of thousands of MAGA enthusiasts expected to fill the national mall on Monday.
The 78-year-old Trump himself will only have to stand outside the west side of the Capitol during his speech, eight years after he spoke of “American carnage” before the start of his first term. He will be joined by Joe Biden, 82, Barack Obama, 63, and hundreds of lawmakers.
He is having tea at the White House with the Bidens, and may duck into the Capitol for a lunch with lawmakers immediately after being sworn in on Monday afternoon.
His fans will have to line up hours in advance to get through security gates after swarming D.C.’s buses and subway system a day after predicted snow. The cold air will blow in from across Canada, a country Trump has repeatedly talked about becoming the 51st state in the US
But there are signs that the city is gearing up for a big event.
Data collected by STR and provided by Destination DC, which promotes city events, puts the hotel occupancy rate at 70 percent on Saturday, compared to a typical 36 percent on Saturday a year ago.
Temperatures at noon on Monday, when Donald Trump will take the oath of office, are expected to be the coldest since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985
It rises to 80 percent on Sunday and 75 percent on Inauguration Day.
Grand opening activities were canceled four years ago due to the pandemic. But by comparison, the occupancy rate just before Barack Obama’s inauguration was 97 percent.
It reached 95 percent for Trump’s first inauguration, which also included a vibrant Women’s March that drew hundreds of thousands of demonstrators.
Occupancy was about 78 percent during Obama’s second inauguration in 2013, similar to this weekend’s rate.
“January is cold in Washington, DC,” a Destination DC spokesperson said. “I think people are prepared for the weather. People know they will be standing like Times Square on New Year’s Eve. I don’t think that will have an impact.’
A protest for Saturday has secured a permit for 50,000 people, but it is unclear how many people will show up. (A high of 44 degrees is forecast for Saturday).

It is not known how the cold temperatures and gusty winds will affect turnout, a key focus of Donald Trump

Workers were putting the finishing touches on the bandstand for viewing the opening parade. It is electrified with heat and lighting

Trump will soon leave his Florida home for the start of the inaugural events

Trump released his inaugural portrait on Thursday
Trump’s inauguration was expected to be the coldest since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration, when temperatures were just 7 degrees in the afternoon and the ceremony was moved indoors to the White House and later to the Capitol Rotunda.
“We’re standing again on the steps of this symbol of our democracy — well, we would have been standing on the steps if it hadn’t gotten so cold,” Reagan said at the Capitol at the time. “Now we stand within this symbol of our democracy.”
It was 80 degrees at noon for Obama’s historic 2009 inauguration, a huge crowd that former White House press secretary Sean Spicer referenced when he claimed Trump was “the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period out, both personally and around the world. .’