The Trump Inauguration Has Been Moved Indoors

January 17, 2025 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - The swearing in ceremony for President Trump is set to take place on Monday, January 20th, 2025 at 11:00 AM Central Time. It will be President Trump's second inauguration. And since Monday coincides with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, it will make Trump the third president to take the oath of office on the federal holiday honoring the late civil rights leader. With the other two presidents being Bill Clinton in 1997 and Barack Obama in 2013.

Trump's second inauguration will also be distinctive in that Trump has announced on his Truth Social platform that the inauguration will be moved indoors to the capitol rotunda. The reason for this change is that severe winter weather is predicted for the Washington D.C. area on inauguration day. The ground may be covered in fresh snow from a snowstorm on Sunday that may be accompanied by strong gusts of cold air.

A lobe of the polar vortex from Canada is predicted to take a southward turn and affect the eastern part of the United States during the weekend leading to the inauguration. Resulting in temperatures being predicted to not get much above 20 degrees, with the real feel being in the single digits due to the accompanying cold winds. If the weather predictions are accurate, Trump's inauguration is set to be the coldest inauguration day since President Ronald Regan's in 1985. Which was so cold that the swearing-in ceremony was moved inside for his inauguration.

Thus far, the coldest presidential inauguration day on record took place in 1873 for the second swearing-in of President Ulysses S. Grant on March 04th, 1873. It wasn't until after 1937 that the inauguration days were moved to earlier in the year. And in 1873, the low temperature in the morning was four degrees with a high of 20 degrees on Grant's second swearing-in.

Not wishing to subject his followers to such a frigid inauguration, Trump announced on Friday, January 17th, 2025 on his Truth Social platform that "The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows. There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don't want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way . . . Therefore, I have ordered the Inauguration Address, in addition to prayers and other speeches, to be delivered in the United States Capitol Rotunda." Additionally, Trump stated that supporters can view the ceremony on screens inside the Capital One Arena, a sports venue in downtown Washington D.C. that holds up to 20,000 people.

Luisa Reyes is an attorney in Tuscaloosa with a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Judson, a master's degree in library science, and a law degree from Samford's Cumberland School of Law. She is also a piano instructor and vocalist.