Trump's Second Inauguration: Make Glamour Great Again

US media adored the Trump family, until he defeated Hillary in 2016, and now weary citizens are hoping they'll finally drop the Trump Derangement Syndrome.

- MAURA MOYNIHAN

On Monday, 20 January, Donald J. Trump and J.D. Vance were sworn in as the new President and Vice President of the United States. The Washington weather was bitterly cold, and threats of violence loomed from Antifa and various anti-Israel agitators. Last week the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that they were removing some sort of a shield so they could strike US government buildings with drones, so the Trump team made a last-minute decision to move the ceremonies indoors and it was a triumph.

My first inaugural parade was in 1961 for President John F. Kennedy. I could never forget the excitement and patriotism of the crowds. People cheered with heartfelt joy for President Eisenhower, the valorous WW2 general who liberated the Nazi death camps, smiling as decorated WW2 veteran Kennedy took his oath, despite Kennedy having defeated Eisenhower's vice president Nixon in the 1960 campaign.

My parents had an apartment on Pennsylvania Avenue with a splendid view, so every 4 years they held an inaugural parade viewing party, where friends would come and go for hours to see the marching bands, high school cheerleaders, buoyant crowds with US flags and Uncle Sam hats. While it was surely disappointing for viewers and the bands that the parade was moved into the Capital One arena, the Trump team did an excellent job with a small parade, starting with firefighters and first responders of Butler PA, honouring fireman Corey Compatore, killed on July 13, 2024, the day Trump dodged an assassin's bullet.