WASHINGTON – Donald Trump took the oath of office on Monday inside a tightly packed Capitol Rotunda, where he was surrounded by a very different Washington than he was eight years ago.
Back then, when Trump gave a speech about “American carnage” on the inaugural stage in the rain, many congressional Republicans were silently prepared to push back on the most radical elements of his agenda and investigate his background.
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Today, they are almost unanimously backing the president. World leaders and corporate CEOs who once balked at Trump attended the ceremony, prepared to brave the bitter cold to publicly show their support before events were moved inside.
It is also a far different Washington from four years ago, when the stage built for Democrat Joe Biden’s inauguration had to be hastily repaired after an insurrection of Trump’s supporters two weeks before. The rioters tore pieces off the scaffolding to use as weapons against police who tried to stop them from breaking into the Capitol and halting the certification of Biden’s victory.
The Rotunda was packed then, too, as rioters violently rushed in after breaking through the main doors. They hung off statues, called out for lawmakers and battled police who were trying to push them out of the building. They walked through Statuary Hall — where Trump was celebrated in a post-ceremony luncheon on Monday — before trying to break down the doors of the House chamber with lawmakers still inside.
Trump refused to attend Biden’s inauguration, and many Republicans thought Trump's political career was over in 2021. But he came back stronger than ever — and brought Washington with him.
“It’s a party victory in the sense that there’s this new populist Republican Party,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. “There’s no question that the enthusiasm level is much higher than it was eight years ago.”
Amid the positive energy for Trump, even some Democrats appeared to be open to working with him.
Many Democrats attended the luncheon, a traditionally bipartisan affair that saw lawmakers in different parties, along with Supreme Court justices and the heads of major tech companies, sitting shoulder to shoulder to toast the new president.
Democratic Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Chris Coons of Delaware both talked to him, and Coons shook his hand. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who planned the inauguration in her role as head of the Senate Rules Committee in the last Congress, laughed and chatted with Trump and Vice President JD Vance throughout the luncheon.
Trump’s second inauguration was also different because it was held indoors, a last-minute change because of the weather. The platform on the West Front of the Capitol, built over many months, stood empty and covered in tarps and cords, abandoned as the swearing in happened inside.
Biden’s inauguration in 2020 was unusual, as well, held without the normal crowds because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Guests on the platform were spaced out instead of crowded in.
Cramer said he attended, but many other lawmakers did not, and he said it felt “weird" but also more intimate with fewer people. “I remember the big teleprompter, the giant screen TV that Joe Biden was reading off of, and just how few people that were out there listening to it,” he said.
Did he ever think Trump, mostly shunned by official Washington after the Jan. 6 attack, would be back at the Capitol taking the oath of office?
“It was a possibility that clearly always existed,” Cramer said.
Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said that while Trump was an unknown in 2017, Washington Republicans now understand how he operates.
“They know he’s going to make statements and that he’s going to test the waters,” Rounds said. “But they also know that when it’s all said and done, he’ll take counsel and then he’ll make a decision.”
Despite the widespread support and unified power in Washington, Trump’s second presidency still faces obstacles, including a narrow majority in the House and different views within the party as he and Republican leaders eye massive bills to cut taxes, secure the border, deport immigrants and boost energy production.
An early test in December showed Trump’s limits after Congress rejected his push to add a debt limit increase to year-end spending legislation.
In his final hours as president, Biden issued a number of preemptive pardons. Among them were pardons to the members and staff of the Jan. 6 committee that investigated the attack, as well as the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the House committee about that day.
For Democrats, the moment is fraught.
“I think it’s all the more clear this time around that the challenges that we face and the divisiveness of our nation, that it runs deep,” said Democrat Andy Kim of New Jersey, a first-term senator. “This is not just about one person in the Oval Office. This is not just about Trump. It isn’t just about Biden.”
Kim said he’s been mulling legislation that could win bipartisan support and help people come together — perhaps investments in civics education or a national service program as the country prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary.
Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, said he sees a difference in Trump’s Cabinet nominees, many of whom he believes were picked because they are loyal to him. His Cabinet eight years ago was more “well-respected, well-qualified people.”
King attended Trump’s first inauguration and said his most vivid memory was hearing him utter the words “American carnage.”
“This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,” Trump said in his speech. He has repeated those themes throughout the last eight years.
“It was a very jarring moment,” King said.
On Monday, Trump spoke similarly about the state of the country.
“For many years, the radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens,” Trump said. “While the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.”
“From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” Trump said.