Even before rioters stormed the Capitol two weeks ago, the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as president and vice president was going to look different from ceremonies past.
The risk of large crowds with the ongoing pandemic meant there would be no parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, and many of the usual performances and speakers had been replaced with plans for virtual events.
But the riot at the Capitol have meant further changes to the already unusual inauguration plans, with increased security measures around the Capitol and thousands of National Guard troops stationed nearby.
Photos: The Nation’s Capital, Quiet And Guarded, Before Inauguration
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Photos: The Nation’s Capital, Quiet And Guarded, Before Inauguration
The scaled-down Inauguration Day events represent a loss of what some scholars call “a civil religion” that binds people together, says Barbara Perry, director of presidential studies at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center.
“When we don’t have the serious parts of our [civil religion], the celebratory parts of that, it’s like losing one’s religion and ceremonies all at the same time,” she says.
With the biggest security presence of any inauguration in history and the National Mall shut down to the public, D.C. residents say they’ve “never seen anything like this” in their city.
