It will be -12°C Monday morning, -6°C at noon and an icy wind when Donald Trump takes the oath of office: the very next 47th American president announced Friday that his inauguration would take place inside the Capitol, a first in 40 years .
• Also read: “Polar vortex”: Donald Trump’s inauguration risks being the coldest in 40 years
The polar cold which will freeze the federal capital Washington and the monumental seat of the United States Congress forces the Republican to give up carrying out outside this institutional and very choreographed ceremony which takes place every four years, on January 20.
“An arctic wind is sweeping the country. I therefore decided that the inauguration speech would be delivered in the Rotunda of the Capitol, as for Ronald Reagan in 1985, already due to very cold weather,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
This upheaval in protocol means that the tribune, who must according to tradition take an oath on the Bible, will not stand on the exterior steps of the Capitol which overlooks the immense National Mall, a majestic esplanade which extends to the obelisk of the Washington Monument.
Donald Trump said he was concerned about “dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands” of law enforcement personnel, “the horses,” as well as “hundreds of thousands” of spectators forced to be “outside during hours.”
This change promises to be a logistical headache as tens of thousands of chairs have been set up on the Mall and thousands of photographers and television sets have to be pre-positioned there.
A stage was already beginning to be set up Friday afternoon under the Capitol Rotunda, according to journalists present on site.
“It will be a magnificent popular experience, especially for the very large audience (expected) on TV,” praised the businessman.
Symbolic issue for Trump
The crowds on the Mall are a huge symbolic issue for Donald Trump.
His first swearing-in, on January 20, 2017, continues to be the subject of controversy over the number of spectators that day: between 1.5 million and a few tens of thousands depending on sources. The Republican, now 78 years old, compared his ceremony to that of his predecessor and rival Barack Obama in 2009.
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AFP
This year, some 220,000 tickets had already been distributed according to parliamentary sources, before the decision to bring the ceremony back to the walls of the Capitol.
Instead, the Capital One Arena, a large multi-sport and concert hall with 20,000 seats in the center of Washington, will be “open Monday to attend this historic event live,” Donald Trump said. “I will join the public there after my oath,” promised the former television host.
Those who brave the wind and cold will still be able to stand along the inaugurated president’s highly choreographed parade from the Capitol to the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue.
This artery and the surrounding neighborhood are protected by black metal barriers 2.4 m high and by some 25,000 police and military personnel, according to the Secret Service, the police in charge of protecting the president and high-ranking officials.
A supporter of Donald Trump who came expressly from California, Matthew Medill, acknowledges to AFP that many will be disappointed but expects “a lot of jubilant enthusiasm, whatever the weather.”
In any case, it will be one of the most polar weather conditions in the history of the United States for January 20.
For his second inauguration in 1985, Republican Ronald Reagan also had to shelter under the Capitol and cancel a military parade. That of Democrat John F. Kennedy in 1961, however, was held at -5°C and under 20 cm of snow.
And the ninth president of the United States, William Henry Harrison, wanted to brave the winter in 1841 to show that at age 68 he was still in good shape. Going out without a coat or hat, he caught pneumonia which took his life a month later.
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