Welcome to the Next Four Years
Four years ago today, Donald Trump left Washington in disgrace following the tragedy of January 6, skipping Joe Biden’s inauguration and retreating to Mar-a-Lago. At noon, he’ll be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in the Capitol Rotunda, where his supporters rioted on that fateful day.
I find myself often hearkening back to the turbulence of the 2020 election, or even 2016, when considering Trump’s improbable return to power. Still, as I note in our Day 1 round-up, this moment is different. Trump reenters the White House with the wind at his back: a Republican Party, remade in his image, controlling the House and Senate; a Democratic Party trying to plot a path forward; a Supreme Court that has empowered him; and billionaire tech and media elites either in his corner or showing little appetite for resistance. A flurry of executive orders are expected in a matter of hours.
“They mean business this time, in all the ways we know—taking control of women’s bodies; deporting immigrants, including many who are legally here; peeling up the checks and balances that have Scotch-taped our republic together thus far,” writes Claire Howorth, one of a dozen Vanity Fair reporters, editors, and contributors weighing in on this first day of Trump’s second term.
We have insightful takes from VF editor-in-chief Radhika Jones, Mike Hogan, Elise Jordan, Gabriel Sherman, Katherine Eban, Jon Skolnik, Chris Smith, Katie Herchenroeder, Kathryn Joyce, James Robenalt, and Mark McKinnon. “It’ll be a challenging four years,” notes Eric Lutz, and “everyone dispirited and outraged by that needs to find a way not only to counter the immediate dangers Trump poses, but to address the conditions that have allowed such a man to rise and flourish.”
Please head to VanityFair.com today for more inauguration coverage—or, if you’d rather tune out the festivities, we have you covered there, too.
—Michael Calderone, editor
