For all the theatrics President-elect Trump has embraced in his campaign and in his life, the ceremonies honoring his inauguration this week will feature traditions, modesty and a focus on the future, planners say.
That’s because Trump is eager to start governing once he takes the oath of office on Jan. 20, they said.
“It’s all summed up by one phrase. It’s ‘Make America Great Again,’ ” Boris Epshteyn, director of communications for the Presidential Inaugural Committee and former Trump campaign adviser, told the Washington Examiner. “It’s not a slogan, it’s really a plan.
“The events, the [inaugural] address, all of them together will be reflective of that message,” Epshteyn added. “It’s about being president for all Americans and getting Americans back to work.”
Unlike the inauguration of his predecessor, Trump’s ceremonies won’t feature the same number of glamorous galas or carry the star power of as many high-profile performers. That may or may not be by design, as several singers and actors reportedly declined invitations to appear at the ceremonies given some of the president-elect’s controversial campaign rhetoric.
Epshteyn, on the other hand, said Trump wants to send a specific message with the three days of events that will surround his swearing-in.
“It’s a message of unity. It’s a message of diversity,” Epshteyn said. He noted the inauguration ceremony, ultimately, “is about getting to work” in the White House.
A pair of concerts at the Lincoln Memorial slated for Jan. 19 will include performances by Toby Keith, 3 Doors Down, Lee Greenwood and the Piano Guys, the inaugural committee said.
In another change, Trump plans to attend fewer inaugural balls this year than several of his predecessors. The inaugural parade, which will snake down Pennsylvania Avenue from the west side of the U.S. Capitol to the North Lawn of the White House, will be shorter by roughly an hour and a half.
David Clinton, an expert in presidential transitions at Baylor University, suggested the tone of Trump’s inaugural events may cater to those who elected him president in November.
“If he wants to convey an image to people who feel they’ve been left behind … then he might want to send a message of austerity,” Clinton said. “He might prefer to have a more stripped-down inauguration.”
Epshteyn praised the Inauguration Day performers who had been announced, saying they embodied the patriotic spirit Trump wanted to embrace during his ceremonies.
“Jackie Evancho, she’s such an exciting young talent,” Epshteyn said of the 16-year-old singer who will perform the national anthem on Inauguration Day. Evancho was the runner-up on the fifth season of “America’s Got Talent.”
Other performers on Inauguration Day will include the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Radio City Rockettes, two distinctly American groups that have graced the stage at previous inaugurations.
“They sing such uplifting songs,” Epshteyn said of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which has performed for 10 presidents. The choir, which sung first for President William Howard Taft, is part of Trump’s desire to create a broadly appealing and patriotic atmosphere, Epshteyn suggested.
The 8,000 people from 40 groups who will march in the inaugural parade represent “a cross section of all corners of this country,” Epshteyn said.
But perhaps no other element of the week’s festivities will more clearly signal Trump’s intentions than his inaugural address, which he is said to be writing with the help of policy visionary Stephen Miller. Free of the political limits imposed on him by the current president, Trump’s seminal speech will give him the opportunity to reframe the priorities of his administration at a moment when the entire country will pause to listen to what he has to say.
Douglas Young, professor of political science and history at the University of North Georgia, said he senses Trump wants to use the inauguration to put the acrimony of the 2016 campaign firmly in the past.
“My impression is that President-elect Trump really wants to impress people with how he can be a man of dignity, that he’s capable of avoiding being the kind of person who seems obsessed with tweeting, and often about trivial matters,” Young said. “My sense is that he’s going to try to strike a bipartisan tone.”
Indeed, the audience will be filled with guests whose attendance is proof that the historic significance of the inauguration outweighs the bitterness of the presidential race.
For example, President George W. Bush has agreed to travel to the swearing-in ceremony despite the scorn Trump heaped on him, his legacy and his family during the campaign.
And in perhaps the greatest sign that the inauguration is bigger than partisan politics, Bill and Hillary Clinton will also join the crowd of revelers watching Trump take the oath of office on Jan. 20.
