An Inauguration, A Hat, and Many Executive Orders

On January 20, 2025, the “first president to serve non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland,” as AP reported, assumed office. Underneath the Capitol rotunda, Trump summoned a crowd of conventional and less conventional guests. There were all nine Supreme Court justices (“I counted!” Senator Amy Klobuchar joked), Bill and Hillary Clinton, George W. and Laura Bush, Barack Obama. There was the outgoing administration — a jovial Joe Biden, Dr. Jill Biden, a more sober Kamala Harris, and Doug Emhoff. But then there were the tech CEOs — Tim Cook (Apple), Sundar Pichai (Alphabet), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Elon Musk (X, Tesla, SpaceX). 

By 11:28 a.m., Usha Vance — in a “peony” pink Oscar de la Renta coat and a slick bun — and Melania Trump — in a since iconic hat — walked in, followed by the now Vice President JD Vance and 45th and 47th President Donald Trump, both of whom were sworn in only minutes later. 

“Every one of us is in a position of responsibility,” said Klobuchar, the Inauguration Committee chair. “With that responsibility of citizenship comes an obligation not to seek out malice, as President Lincoln once reminded us, but to view others with a generosity of spirit, despite our differences.” However, that generosity of spirit — within 24 hours — seemed to ebb away as Trump started issuing a series of executive orders, including one that affected birthright citizenship.