Trump will serve as the 47th US President, the first politician since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s to lose reelection to the White House and later mount a successful run. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the inauguration.
Washington: The stage is all set for Donald Trump’s grand return next week on Monday (December 20) as the US President-elect elects one of the wealthiest administrations in history to oversee the nation’s policies and represent the country overseas as ambassadors.
Trump, 78, defeated Kamala Harris in the US election after Joe Biden withdrew from the race. Trump would be sworn in along with JD Vance as the Vice President. They will take the oath of office with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in Washington, DC, at noon Eastern Time (10.30 PM IST) in front of thousands of people.
Local and federal officials estimate that approximately 200,000 people, including Trump supporters and protesters, will gather to witness the ceremony. Several US senators and House members, as well as guests from the incoming administration, are expected to attend.
The swearing-in would formally kick off with fireworks on January 18. The four-day schedule also includes three VIP events at Trump’s golf course outside Washington, DC, and a ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) victory rally on the eve of the swearing-in ceremony.
The event promises to be a high-profile event, with several global leaders and influential figures confirming their attendance. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the inauguration, following an invitation from the Trump-Vance inaugural committee. Other influential figures and global leaders have also confirmed their attendance, adding further weight to the event.
Ahead of Trump's inauguration, President Biden gave his farewell address to the nation. The speech pointed at the Biden administration's achievements in the past four years. The speech assumes significance as Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire deal and the return of some hostages, something Biden has been painstakingly working on since the war began.
The inauguration will be attended by former US Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Bill Clinton, who will be accompanied by their spouses, except for Michelle Obama. Joe Biden has also confirmed his attendance.
Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg are set to attend the inauguration of the US President-elect, organizers have confirmed. The tech industry leaders will be seated together on the platform alongside Trump’s Cabinet nominees and other notable figures.
Billionaire Musk, who expressed on X that he was "honored" to attend, has contributed over $250 million to Trump's campaign. As the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, as well as co-leader of Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency advisory body, Musk has often appeared alongside Trump since endorsing him in July.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has been invited to attend the inauguration, where he will be seated in a position of honor on the dais, according to The New York Times. The invitation comes as the popular app faces a potential nationwide ban unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, sells its US assets by January 19, as mandated by a bipartisan law.
Country singer and former American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, is slated to perform ‘America the Beautiful’ during the Trump inauguration. "I love our country and am honored to have been asked to sing at the inauguration and to be a small part of this historic event," Underwood said in a statement as quoted by BBC.
The British royal family is expected to host Trump on two state visits, according to a report in The Telegraph. The Downing Street and the Foreign Office are gearing up to extend an invitation to Trump after he returns to the White House.
Trump is returning with a populist economic agenda that includes sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods. Economists say that Trump’s proposed tariffs would almost certainly raise prices for US consumers and cut into the profit margins of Chinese exporters. A 60 per cent tariff on Chinese imports would lower China’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 2.5 percentage points over the following 12 months, analysts at Swiss bank UBS have estimated.
Trump will serve as the 47th president, the first politician since Grover Cleveland in the late 1800s to lose reelection to the White House and later mount a successful run. At the age of 78, Trump has become the oldest man ever elected president, breaking a record held by President Joe Biden.