President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance are days away from being sworn into office, beginning a second Trump administration after a historic 2024 election victory against Vice President Kamala Harris.
A series of festivities will begin in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, leading up to Inauguration Day on Monday, Jan. 20, when Trump will take the oath of office at noon in front of the Capitol.
From the lead-up to the inaugural ceremony to the start of Trump’s presidency, here’s everything you need to know about the 2025 presidential inauguration:
Ramped-up security in DC
Four years after a chaotic riot interrupted Congress‘s certification of the 2020 presidential election, law enforcement made several changes to secure the Capitol for the Jan. 6 certification and presidential inauguration.
Matt McCool, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Washington Field Office, said the 2025 inauguration will occur under a “higher threat environment” than the last inauguration and that there is a “slightly more robust security plan.”
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
Trump’s record-breaking inaugural fund
After Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in 2021 in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, many companies paused donations and political contributions to organizations associated with Trump or any lawmaker who voted against certification.
However, that outlook has changed, and business leaders are working to rebuild relationships with the incoming president, who is expected to have major effects on their companies’ futures.
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
Big Tech leaders embrace Trump’s return to office
Big Tech has been one of Trump’s biggest long-term rivals. However, during the 2024 election cycle, several key figures — most notably, Elon Musk — started to warm to him, with the trend intensifying after his victory.
A number of Big Tech CEOs, including Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, have signaled a warming up to Trump as he prepares to take office again.
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
What to expect on Jan. 20
Washington is getting ready to host the president-elect and vice president-elect, along with what’s expected to be hundreds of thousands of attendees, for a weekend of inauguration festivities.
On Sunday, Trump is holding a final MAGA rally to celebrate his victory in the 2024 election. In addition to three inaugural balls on Monday, there will be several other unofficial celebrations around the district in honor of Trump’s swearing-in.
A number of prominent artists and notable guests have announced they will take part in the events.
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
What else to expect on Jan. 20
Aside from the inauguration, several events will take place on Jan. 20.
Flags across the country are still flying at half-staff in honor of former President Jimmy Carter, who died in December at age 100, though some will be raised to full-staff to honor Trump.
The 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship is also slated for Jan. 20. This year, the University of Notre Dame will face off against The Ohio State University, which happens to be Vance’s alma mater. Vance jokingly made a plea for the game to be postponed due to his scheduling conflict.
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
Who is attending the inauguration
Although no head of a foreign country has ever attended a presidential inauguration in the United States, the president-elect decided to break tradition after he won the 2024 election by extending invitations to several world leaders.
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
How Democrats are responding
Democrats are prepared to protest Trump in Washington ahead of and during the festivities, although their opposition is muted compared to the reactions when he took office in 2017.
The Left’s lackluster resistance comes as it grapples with how to respond to Trump’s reelection, with Molly Murphy, a pollster for Harris’s failed presidential campaign, telling Democratic National Committee members last month that “the 2025 playbook cannot be the 2017 playbook.”
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
Confirmation hearings for Cabinet nominees
Multiple Trump nominees for key Cabinet positions, including defense secretary pick Pete Hegseth and attorney general pick Pam Bondi, faced Senate confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill in the days before the president-elect’s inauguration.
However, while Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) is under pressure to get most of Trump’s nominees ready for a vote by the time he is sworn in or shortly thereafter, various holdups could get in the way of that time frame.
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
Trump’s first day back in the White House
Trump and his advisers told Republican senators that the incoming administration is working on 100 executive orders that will be enacted once Trump is sworn into office. The orders will focus on immigration, a topic Trump was adamant about fixing while campaigning for the presidency.
Trump has also made a number of other promises about what he would do on his first day back in the White House.
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
Capitol Hill Republicans ready to enact Trump’s agenda
With unified control of Washington, Republicans now have a fresh chance to reverse their fortunes and have already promised a sweeping rollback of Biden’s regulatory agenda.
However, the challenge will be prioritizing a small number of items for consideration on the Senate floor:
Read more from the Washington Examiner:
