After weeks spent worrying about the optics of flags being at half-mast during his inauguration, a brutal forecast solved one problem for Donald Trump.
The president-elect opted to move his inauguration ceremony inside the Capitol building, citing the frigid temperatures expected in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 20 in a change-of-venue announcement shared to Truth Social.
"It is my obligation to protect the People of our Country but, before we even begin, we have to think of the Inauguration itself. The weather forecast for Washington, D.C., with the windchill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows," he wrote. "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."
In his statement, Trump addressed two obsessions of the MAGA movement: Ronald Reagan and crowd sizes. The incoming president noted that Reagan was sworn in inside the Capitol in 1985, at that moment becoming the oldest president to be inaugurated. That record was eventually bested by Joe Biden in 2021. It will again be broken by Trump next week.
Liberal commentator Ron Filipowski cited Trump's advanced age while sharing the news of his indoor swearing-in.
"Father Time is undefeated. Trump is not in any shape to stand out there in the cold," he wrote on X. "Got to give the old geezer credit for understanding his limitations."
Since there won't be an in-person crowd for Trump to look out on (though he did encourage any attendees to "dress warmly"), the president-elect is already delighting in his Inauguration Day telecast ratings.
"This will be a very beautiful experience for all, and especially for the large TV audience!" he said.
While MAGA true believers like Marjorie Taylor Greene speculated that something beyond the weather is at play, it is expected to be remarkably cold in D.C. on Monday. Highs near 20 degrees and strong winds are expected to make it feel like the single digits outside. That didn't stop Trump's biggest critics from taking a few shots at him. Former Presidential Adviser David Axelrod noted that Barack Obama and John F. Kennedy both braved the elements for frigid inaugurations.
"In '61, John F. Kennedy was Inaugurated on the Capitol steps, in windchills of 7 degrees. It was almost as cold for Obama in '09," he wrote on X. "In fairness, Trump IS more than 3 decades older than JFK & Obama were. Or did he just fear small crowds?"
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