President Donald Trump takes office

Photo from whitehouse.gov

President Donald J. Trump took office as the 45th president of the United States in Washington, D.C., today after winning the 2016 presidential election.

The inauguration ceremony, the U.S.’s 58th overall, begun at 8:30 a.m. PST and included remarks from religious leaders, congressional joint committee on inaugural ceremonies chair Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Accompanied by musical performances, Justice Clarence Thomas swore in Vice President Mike R. Pence at 8:53 a.m. in front of the U.S. Capitol, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., administered Trump’s oath of office at 9 a.m. The new president then gave a speech and led his inaugural parade through Washington. Three balls will take place this evening.

“When America is united, America is totally unstoppable,” Trump said in his speech today, in which he promised to bring power back to the people and to take decisive action as president. “We will bring back our jobs, we will bring back our borders, we will bring back our wealth and we will bring back our dreams.”

The proceedings began yesterday at noon, when Trump, who at 70 is the oldest president to be inaugurated, continued the tradition of laying a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Ceremonies went on through the afternoon and into this morning, when the inauguration took place.

The last scheduled event of the proceedings is a private, interfaith prayer service at Washington’s National Cathedral tomorrow at 10 a.m., although nonofficial events such as protests and marches will continue through the weekend.

The large amount of security needed for the inauguration—according to early estimates, around 900,000 people attended the event—will disrupt public life in Washington until the event ends.

“There are a number of educational associations, like the National 4-H Center where I worked, that are going to be running special conferences,” said AP U.S. Government and Politics teacher Carol Green, who worked in Washington in college. “They actually have students there now who are learning about government who are going to actually be at the inauguration. All these schools will shut down for the day; a lot of kids are going to go or watch on TV.”

Performers at the inauguration included Jackie Evancho, 3 Doors Down, Toby Keith, Sam Moore, Lee Greenwood, Chrisette Michele, The Piano Guys, DJ RaviDrums and The Frontmen of Country.

The Rockettes and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir also performed at the event, but some members of each group refused to participate at the inauguration.

More than 30 members of Congress also boycotted the inauguration, including Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who stated earlier this month that he did not see Trump as legitimate.

“There’s not a lot of precedent for this level of resistance to the legitimacy of an incoming president-elect. George Bush had similar questions about his legitimacy, but they weren’t based on his character as much as they were on the vote total and the outcome of the election,” Modern International Affairs teacher Damon Halback said. “It seems that there will be almost as many protestors as there will be celebrants, again something pretty unprecedented all things considered, so this is a novel inauguration that there isn’t really an example to compare to.”

Besides boycotts, several protests, marches and demonstrations will take place throughout the country in response to the inauguration.

The prominent Women’s March on Washington, which aims to promote gender equality through demonstration, starts tomorrow at 10 a.m. and has spawned sister events around the world, including in San Francisco.

“[I’m going to the San Francisco Women’s March] to show solidarity and support. This has been a time of political turmoil as well as gender roles being more and more constricted, it seems, at least in media,” FEM Club activities coordinator Neymika Jain (12), who will attend the San Francisco Women’s March, said.“Because of that, I want to support a more intersectional equality.”

Trump’s inauguration today marks the first day in his plan for his first 100 days in office, which he laid out immediately after being elected. His plan includes holding politicians more accountable, protecting workers in America and restoring laws, as well as repealing the Affordable Care Act, funding a wall at the southern border and investing in infrastructure, military and education.

“I’m not completely confident in being able to predict what’s going to happen,” Green said. “Trump has laid out a lot of things in his 100-day plan, some of which he’s already changed and amended, things like asking Congress to fund his proposals regarding immigration, whereas prior to the election he had insisted it wouldn’t cost anything out of the U.S. Treasury.”

As the current session of Congress is Republican like Trump, in contrast to the Democratic former President Barack Obama, the Senate and House will most likely support Trump’s actions.

“The treatment that we give towards the Middle East and towards our relationship with Russia, and for that matter our trade relationships with China and Mexico, seem to be areas where there could be rapid, immediate change,” Halback said. “The last change, which would be pretty immediate, would be the tenor of the government itself, meaning the qualifications, political interests and perceived role of government on behalf of his administration’s hires in the cabinet, and of course the last area would specifically be a Supreme Court nominee.”

Many other public officials along with Trump and Pence were elected on Nov. 8, 2016, notably members of the 115th Congress including Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Rep. Ro Khanna of the 17th congressional district of California.