A Rundown of Joe Biden’s Inauguration

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Fernando Sanchez, Reporter

On January 20,2021 the 59th Inaugural Ceremony was held to swear in Joe Biden as the 46th President. The ceremony drew in over 33 Million viewers, the third most viewed after President Obama and Regean’s Inaugurations. With the pandemic still raging on and the insurrection that occurred at the capital earlier that month, security and attendance were closely watched. Although the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) faced these hurdles, the committee did their best to keep everything as normal as possible.

The official theme for the ceremony was “American Unity” which was shown by the people in attendance. Many former presidents were present at the ceremony which included Presidents Obama,Bush,and Clinton. Someone who was notably absent was former President Donald Trump, Joe Biden’s predecessor. Since Trump was absent from the ceremony Vice President Mike Pence assumed many of the duties that the outgoing president usually performs. Pence symbolized the peaceful transfer of power between the administrations and attempted to keep this tradition alive even as his running mate broke many of them.

As Donald Trump continued to spread misinformation of the 2020 election and the insurrection that shocked the nation, partisanship became front and center for the coming weeks. Many Americans hoped that this bickering between the two would take a rest and that the two parties would come together to show unity in our country. However Trump being absent from the ceremony was a clear sign on how divided our country is. The two parties decided to reject what the people wanted as they refused to put their differences aside. These differences also caused many traditions to be broken in a typical transfer of power. Joe Biden was not invited to the White House by Trump, former first lady Melania Trump also did not invite Jill Biden to a discussion at the White House as first ladies usually do. This break from tradition highlights the problem of increasing partisanship in our country.

The 59th Inauguration will surely be looked back on in the future as it highlighted many problems that we faced in the 2020 cycle. Most Inaugurations are supposed to be a sign of a peaceful transfer of power, however this wasn’t a typical inauguration. Although the theme “American Unity” was a good attempt to bring the country together it was clearly missing the unity that most Americans were hoping for