Donald Trump announced Friday that his inauguration will be held indoors due to harsh weather concerns.
Now, instead of hundreds of thousands of Trump voters gathering at the U.S. Capitol to watch their president begin his second term, they’ll instead be ushered to the Capital One Arena about a mile away where they can watch from … a jumbotron.
“We made all of the plans and all of the arrangements to come up and be a part of this event, and … it’s kind of a bummer,” Jose Granado told NBC News.
We might as well stay at home and watch it on TV. I’m kind of disappointed, to be honest with you,” Ken Robinson, who traveled from Oklahoma with his family, said. “We came here to watch it in person. We don’t really care to watch it on a jumbotron.”
Traveling to watch the swearing in isn’t cheap. Hotel rates around Washington, D.C., are around $500 per night the weekend leading up to Trump’s inauguration.
However, the Trump administration is handing out its condolences to supporters by allowing them to hold onto their now “commemorative” tickets.
But it isn’t just average MAGA supporters getting the short end of the stick. Some of Trump’s wealthy donors have reportedly been cut from the in-person ceremony, given the limited number of seats in the rotunda. Instead, as The New York Times reporter Teddy Schleifer wrote, some of Trump’s donors will be escorted to a suite at the Capitol One Arena.
Imagine paying $1 million and getting put in a Capitol One Arena suite pic.twitter.com/hSNzuw6NWf— Teddy Schleifer (@teddyschleifer) January 17, 2025
Of course, Trump’s tech sugar daddies and burgeoning oligarchy have VIP seating for the inauguration, and all it took was several millions donated to the convicted felon’s inaugural fund.
Looks like Trump’s inauguration is only available for in-person viewing if you’re a part of the White House or wealthy enough to buy your way in. But it isn’t just his everyday supporters who are taken aback by the news.
Even MAGA talking heads like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia questioned the decision.
“I have personally attended countless rallies where President Trump spoke in extreme weather conditions from cold to rain to heat,” she wrote on X. “Is there a security threat other than extreme cold temperatures? Not only for him but for the people?”
Even MAGA conspiracy loon Glenn Beck had his theories about why Trump made the call to move everything indoors.
“These guys are under such threat. This is ‘Jason Bourne’ stuff,” he said.
Beck went on to imply that, due to Trump’s shakedown of the “power structure” of government, conditions during the inauguration might not be safe for him. It’s unclear if he is implying that members of the U.S. government would target Trump.
Trump’s last-minute decision means that months of security planning have been scrapped. Instead, the Secret Service and other security officials have three days to prepare for the new plan.
The last president to be sworn in indoors was Ronald Reagan, when temperatures dipped down to 7 degrees in 1985.
But you’d think MAGA supporters would be prepared for D.C.’s January weather, given that many of them made the trip four years ago.
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