US President-elect, Joe Biden is to be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States at a moment of profound turmoil and loss for America.
Biden will be sworn in shortly before noon on Wednesday by Chief Justice John Roberts on the Capitol’s West Front, with a vista of iconic national monuments stretching across the National Mall.
Instead of a vast throng of supporters, Biden will look out upon a field of flags from each of the 50 US states and territories representing those who could not attend because of the pandemic.
Biden will take the oath of office on the steps of the US Capitol where exactly two weeks prior a mob of Donald Trump supporters, who is preparing to leave the White House, breached security barriers and stormed the building in an effort to overturn the results of the presidential election.
In the aftermath of the deadly assault on the Capitol and as the death toll from the coronavirus surpasses 400,000, Biden will assume the presidency in a city resembling a war zone and devoid of the celebratory pomp and pageantry that comes with a presidential inauguration.
Even before the attack on the Capitol, the inaugural planning committee urged Americans to stay home in an effort to minimize the risk of further spreading the disease.
After refusing to concede, Trump will hold a farewell event at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington on Wednesday morning.
When Biden takes office, Trump will be nearly 1,000 miles away, at his south Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago.
Trump, who was impeached for a second time on a charge of “incitement of insurrection” after the deadly siege of the Capitol, leaves Washington for an uncertain future.
Whether he mounts a political comeback in 2024 probably depends on the outcome of his Senate impeachment trial, which will forge ahead in the first days of his post-presidency.
If convicted, the Senate can vote to disqualify him from ever again holding future office.
Trump’s absence at the ceremony will be a final show of disregard for democratic norms and traditions.
Only four US presidents have skipped their predecessor’s inauguration – most recently Andrew Johnson in 1869.
Mike Pence, the outgoing vice-president, will attend the ceremony to demonstrate support for a peaceful transition of power.
The Clintons, Bushes and Obamas are all expected to attend the ceremony.
Biden will take the oath alongside Kamala Harris, who will make history as the nation’s first female, first Black and first Asian American vice-president.
She will be sworn in by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic and Latina member of the supreme court.
Some elements will remain unchanged. Biden is expected to deliver an inaugural address, in which he will appeal for national unity.
After his remarks, Biden will continue the tradition of reviewing the troops.
But Biden will forgo the traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead, the inaugural committee has planned a virtual “Parade Across America” that will begin after his swearing-in.
On the eve of his inauguration, Biden led a remembrance ceremony at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool honoring the 400,000 people who died from the coronavirus pandemic.
Confronting the virus will be Biden’s most urgent priority after he is sworn in.
