The beginning of the end of the Trump era
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. THE MOST jarring difference between Donald Trump’s first and second inaugurations will be the setting. Eight years ago he spoke in front of the Capitol building on a relatively mild January day, but frigid temperatures have pushed the ceremony inside for the first time in 40 years.
A closer look at plans for this scaled-back event also offers hints at some of the profound contrasts between 2017 and 2025. Mr Trump’s vice-president will be sworn in first. Last time he had at his side the steady hand of Mike Pence, a living embodiment of the orthodoxies of Reagan Republicanism.
Mr Pence had spent more than a decade in the House of Representatives before serving as governor of Indiana for four years. He knew the ways of Washington and was friendly with all of the party’s core constituencies: free marketeers, social conservatives and foreign-policy hawks. His choice was a sign of humility from Mr Trump meant to reassure his party after a hostile takeover.
His choice this time around sent the opposite message. J.D. Vance, 40-years-old, has half as much experience as Mr Trump as an elected official in Washington.
He spent his brief time in the Senate challenging the foundations of Republican thought on international relations and economics. His elevation is a sign that Mr Trump is self-assured enough to not need a guide so much as an attack dog and loyal servant—something he believes Mr Pence was not in the aftermath of the 2020 election. Others who will be present—or at least those invited before the guest list was radically reduced—are evidence of the great paradox of Mr Trump’s second term.
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