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Inauguration Day, Trump-Style: What Will Happen?

President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
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Inauguration Day, Trump-Style: What Will Happen?

President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)
President Donald Trump takes a question from a reporter on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sept. 9, 2019. (AP)

Every four years America's president is sworn in on Inauguration Day, whether newly elected or returning to office, in a long-established ceremony held amid pageantry shaped by the incoming leader's personal flourishes.

What does that mean for the inauguration of Donald Trump? Queue the Village People and social media titans -- and leave the mittens and scarves behind, following a last-minute decision to move the inauguration indoors.

Here is a preview of the pomp and circumstance that will unfold Monday when Trump is sworn in as the 47th president.

- The oath -

The US Constitution mandates that each new president's term begin at noon on January 20 (or the day after if it falls on a Sunday), and that the president take the oath of office.

In recent years, presidents have been sworn in from an enormous temporary platform on the Capitol's scenic West Lawn. This year, owing to a frigid forecast, it will take place inside in the Capitol Rotunda.

The oath is most often administered by the Supreme Court chief justice, and Monday would mark John Roberts's second time officiating for Trump.

The new president also delivers an inaugural address, laying out his plans for the next four years. The Republican rang in his first term in 2017 with a particularly dark speech evoking "American carnage."

Incoming vice president JD Vance will also be sworn in.

People stand look at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 18, 2025, as the US capital prepares for the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump. (AFP)

- The guests -

In a particularly Trumpian twist, the Republican has invited a number of tech titans to attend the inauguration, joining more traditional guests such as his cabinet nominees.

Billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg will attend as will Shou Chew, the head of Chinese social media giant TikTok, according to US media.

Trump has courted closer ties with the tech moguls, and his campaign benefited from disinformation spread on social media platforms such as TikTok, Musk's X and Zuckerberg's Facebook and Instagram.

Outgoing president Joe Biden will attend the ceremony -- despite Trump's refusal to appear at Biden's swearing-in when he beat Trump in 2020.

All living former presidents -- Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama -- will attend, as will their wives, except for Michelle Obama.

That means Hillary Clinton, whom Trump beat in the 2016 presidential election, in addition to Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he beat in November, will be there.

Heads of state are not traditionally invited, but Trump has sent invitations to a handful of foreign leaders, including some who share his right-wing politics.

Far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will attend, her office confirmed Saturday.

Hungary's Viktor Orban, Argentine President Javier Milei and China's Xi Jinping have also been invited, but not all will attend.

People brave the winter weather on the National Mall days ahead of the 60th Presidental Inauguration on January 18, 2025, in Washington, DC. (Getty Images via AFP)

- A move indoors -

Crowd size is a preoccupation of Trump's, but the last-minute switch to an indoor event may dent his bragging rights.

More than 220,000 tickets were being distributed to the public before Trump announced Friday that frigid temperatures meant the inauguration would shift to the Capitol Rotunda, which can accommodate only about 600 people.

Trump said supporters could watch a live feed from Washington's Capital One sports arena, which holds up to 20,000 -- and he promised to drop in later.

"This will be a very beautiful experience for all," the president-elect said.

- The orders -

Trump said he is preparing to sign multiple executive orders as early as his first day in office, aimed at undoing many of the Biden administration's policies.

Among other promises, he has pledged to launch a mass deportation program and increase oil drilling. He has also said he might immediately begin pardoning January 6 rioters, his followers who ransacked the Capitol in 2021.

Immediately after the inauguration a meeting is planned between US officials and foreign ministers from Japan, India and Australia, the so-called "Quad" which the Biden administration saw as a counterweight to an assertive China.

Carrie Underwood arrives at the People's Choice Awards, Dec. 6, 2022, in Santa Monica, Calif. (AP)

- The music -

Trump's first inauguration in 2017 was marked by a lack of celebrity power, with few A-list musicians willing to be associated with him.

Trump inauguration 2.0 is in better shape.

Country star Carrie Underwood will sing "America the Beautiful" during the swearing-in ceremony.

Also performing will be country singer Lee Greenwood, whose patriotic anthem "God Bless the USA" is standard at Trump rallies.

A pre-inauguration rally Sunday will include a performance by the Village People, whose 1970s-era "Y.M.C.A." is another Trump event staple, in addition to Kid Rock and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Country musicians including Jason Aldean, Rascal Flatts and Gavin DeGraw plus the Village People will perform across Trump's three official inaugural balls.

- The galas -

Trump is expected to attend all three official inaugural galas on Monday night. More than a dozen others are planned.

In addition, he will put on a "Make America Great Again Victory Rally" Sunday evening at Capital One Arena.

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How Long Will It Take and How Much Will It Cost to Rebuild Gaza?

A young Palestinian girl walks along a street on a misty morning in Khan Younis in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025, as Israel's security cabinet is expected to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. (AFP)
A young Palestinian girl walks along a street on a misty morning in Khan Younis in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025, as Israel's security cabinet is expected to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. (AFP)
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How Long Will It Take and How Much Will It Cost to Rebuild Gaza?

A young Palestinian girl walks along a street on a misty morning in Khan Younis in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025, as Israel's security cabinet is expected to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. (AFP)
A young Palestinian girl walks along a street on a misty morning in Khan Younis in the northern Gaza Strip on January 17, 2025, as Israel's security cabinet is expected to approve a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. (AFP)

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are eager to leave miserable tent camps and return to their homes if a long-awaited ceasefire agreement halts the Israel-Hamas war, but many will find there is nothing left and no way to rebuild.

Israeli bombardment and ground operations have transformed entire neighborhoods in several cities into rubble-strewn wastelands, with blackened shells of buildings and mounds of debris stretching away in all directions. Major roads have been plowed up. Critical water and electricity infrastructure is in ruins. Most hospitals no longer function.

And it's unclear when — or even if — much will be rebuilt.

The agreement for a phased ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas-led fighters does not say who will govern Gaza after the war, or whether Israel and Egypt will lift a blockade limiting the movement of people and goods that they imposed when Hamas seized power in 2007.

The United Nations says that it could take more than 350 years to rebuild if the blockade remains.

Two-thirds of all structures destroyed

The full extent of the damage will only be known when the fighting ends and inspectors have full access to the territory. The most heavily destroyed part of Gaza, in the north, has been sealed off and largely depopulated by Israeli forces in an operation that began in early October.

Using satellite data, the United Nations estimated last month that 69% of the structures in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, including over 245,000 homes. The World Bank estimated $18.5 billion in damage — nearly the combined economic output of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022 — from just the first four months of the war.

Israel blames the destruction on Hamas, which ignited the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, attack into Israel, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting another 250. Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed over 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not say how many of the dead were fighters.

Israel says it has killed over 17,000 fighters, without providing evidence. The military has released photos and video footage showing that Hamas built tunnels and rocket launchers in residential areas, and often operated in and around homes, schools and mosques.

Mountains of rubble to be moved

Before anything can be rebuilt, the rubble must be removed — a staggering task in itself.

The UN estimates that the war has littered Gaza with over 50 million tons of rubble — roughly 12 times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza. With over 100 trucks working full time, it would take over 15 years to clear the rubble away, and there is little open space in the narrow coastal territory that is home to some 2.3 million Palestinians.

Carting the debris away will also be complicated by the fact that it contains huge amounts of unexploded ordnance and other harmful materials, as well as human remains. Gaza's Health Ministry says thousands of people killed in airstrikes are still buried under the rubble.

No plan for the day after

The rubble clearance and eventual rebuilding of homes will require billions of dollars and the ability to bring construction materials and heavy equipment into the territory — neither of which is assured.

The ceasefire agreement calls for a three- to five-year reconstruction project to begin in its final phase, after all the remaining 100 hostages have been released and Israeli troops have withdrawn from the territory.

But getting to that point will require agreement on the second and most difficult phase of the deal, which still must be negotiated.

Even then, the ability to rebuild will depend on the blockade, which critics have long decried as a form of collective punishment. Israel says it is needed to prevent Hamas from rebuilding its military capabilities, noting that cement and metal pipes can also be used for tunnels and rockets.

Israel might be more inclined to lift the blockade if Hamas were no longer in power, but there are no plans for an alternative government.

The United States and much of the international community want a revitalized Palestinian Authority to govern the West Bank and Gaza with the support of Arab countries ahead of eventual statehood. But that's a nonstarter for Israel's government, which is opposed to a Palestinian state and has ruled out any role in Gaza for the Western-backed authority.

International donors are unlikely to invest in an ungoverned territory that has seen five wars in less than two decades, which means the sprawling tent camps along the coast could become a permanent feature of life in Gaza.