No crowds and the president arriving by train: America is ready for an inauguration ceremony like no other



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NY – In January 2017 the outgoing president from United States Barack Obama He boarded the helicopter and flew over Washington DC, passing over the heads of thousands of people gathered on the National Mall to greet his successor. Four years after the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States, Joe bidenIt will be very different and not just for the pandemic emergency. After reinventing the election campaign, speaking to the country from his home in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden will change the formula for Opening Day, which at 12:01 on January 20, 2021 will see the first minute of four years of the new administration. The news will start a few hours before.

Biden was able to reach the capital by train, true to the nickname “Amtrak Joe”, earned when at the beginning of his political career he switched between the federal capital and his home, not to leave his young children after the death of his mother and his the little sister. Those ninety minutes of travel, traveled eight thousand times since ’72, instead of the Air Force Boeing 757 line-up down, as they did. Donald trump me George W. Bush for your Opening Day, they could help the pop narrative of the new “Bidenland” in which normalcy becomes extraordinary.

Trump probably won’t be there to hand over the keys to the White House, nor will Melania show the new First Layd, dr. Jill, the redone rose garden. The tycoon, who has not yet recognized the electoral result, is thinking of a counter-rally to announce his candidacy for the presidential election in 2024, just as Biden addresses the Americans. If for the history of the presidents, Michael decided, a similar situation had never been seen for the Republican senator Roy Blunt, chairman of the commission that oversees the inauguration ceremony, Trump is at the top of his legal rights. “But I hope you attend the inauguration,” he admitted to Cnn. This shadow has ended up turning electricity into a fact that, in the past, made headlines mainly because of the profit margin of the rooms in Washington hotels. This time there will be no assault on the capital. Presidential staff have ruled out the popular gathering and the parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, a mile and a half from Capitol Hill, the seat of Congress, to the White House, is at great risk. The expected number of people could be reduced to a thousand. In the past, members of the House and Senate received 200,000 tickets to distribute to their constituents. As of September 7, the west area of ​​the White House is closed to visitors, to allow the construction of the stage for the ceremony. The overall costs of the organization, including security, are expected to exceed $ 40 million.

Biden would be thinking of small events scattered around the city, from dining at the National Statuary Hall, the historic semicircular hall on Capitol Hill, to sober gatherings in various parts of Washington. The model should be that of the democratic convention, which was developed mainly remotely. But it won’t be easy to keep people away. The National Park Service, which regulates access to the federal White House area, has received requests from many organizations. The Answer Coalition group wants to demonstrate to demand urgent measures on the environment, the three hundred of “Roar for Trump” want to praise the outgoing president, another five thousand appeal for the right to demonstrate against the successor. Another group, Women for a Great American, would like to organize an event near the White House, another would be scheduled at the Martin Luther King Memorial.

The choice of details has a high symbolic value. As the second Catholic president in history, Biden will use an oath Bible that has been in his family since 1893 and is descended from his father’s generation of Irish descent. About four inches thick, with a Celtic cross on the cover, it’s the same book that Biden used for senator and vice-president ceremonies and is the one sworn in by his son Beau when he became attorney general in Delaware.

Obama chose the Bible used by two icons of American history: Abraham Lincoln me Martin Luther King Jr. To fund the celebrations, Biden will accept personal donations of up to $ 500,000 and up to $ 1 million from corporations. Lobbyists are excluded. Obama banned corporate donations in 2009, but accepted them four years later, when the fundraising rules had also changed. Trump took money from both corporations and lobbyists.

The last variant refers to one of the obsessions of Americans: the weather forecast. On January 20 there will be polar cold as the day of the opening of the second quarter of Ronald Reagan, when the temperature dropped to -13? In Washington, the month of January is highly variable. In 2017, due to Trump’s oath, it was 8 degrees and it didn’t rain, but there was no controversy.

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