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The 2021 United States presidential inauguration will take place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021. The event will be the 59th presidential inauguration. The winner of the 2020 United States presidential election (either Donald Trump or Joe Biden) will take the oath of office as President on this day, and the winning ticket's running mate (either Mike Pence or Kamala Harris) will take the oath of office as Vice President. Festivities may potentially be curtailed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Either Biden (at 78), Trump (at 74) or possibly even Nancy Pelosi (at 80) taking the oath of office on January 20, 2021, would make one of them the oldest person ever to be sworn in as President, surpassing the record of Reagan (at 73) who sworn in for second term in 1985.

Preparation

In June 2020, both houses of congress appointed a Joint Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to oversee construction of the platform and other temporary structures that will be necessary for the ceremonies and celebrations.

Work is scheduled to begin in September 2020.

How it is supposed to go

January 20th is on a Wednesday this time out, so the alternative plans for a Sunday, such as was done in 1985 and 2013, will not have to be used. Numerous conspiracy theories and worst-case scenarios have been proffered by the press and the major candidates starting in the late summer as to how this event could be disrupted.

President Trump is re-elected

Should President Trump's re-election be held by the Democrats to be fair and aboveboard, celebrations will start two days before the ceremonies, as guests and spectators will arrive.

On January 20th, the President, First Lady, and his children and grandchildren will attend church, before heading down to the Capitol. They will then be greeted by the Vice President and Mrs. Pence, the Republican leadership of Congress, and other dignitaries, and all will then head to the platform on the West side of the Capitol building.

At noon, Vice President Pence will take the oath of office, followed by President Trump, who will give a formal address to the nation. They will then go to a luncheon there before leading the traditional parade.

Once the parade is finished, the first couple will retire to the residence to prepare for the several inaugural balls, which in each, the first couple will open up the dance floor.

President Biden takes office

With President Trump having, as early as the summer of 2020, attempted to delegitimize the election, many pundits and editorial writers have insisted that former Vice President Biden needs to win in a landslide, or near landslide in order for the old administration to accept the change of administration.

Should a large enough victory to convince most Republicans, take place. President-elect and Mrs. Biden will move into Blair House in the week prior to the ceremony, which will be extremely similar to a possible Second Trump. Ancillary celebrations will most certainly take place.

How it isn't supposed to go: Conspiracy theories and Worst-case scenarios

President Trump's attempts in delegitimizing the election should he lose by preemptive accusations of fraud have caused quite a few people to consider what would happen if the President should lose by a margin far less than a landslide.

Rosa Brooks, who worked in President Obama's Defense Department, co-founded the Transition Integrity Project, and in June 2020, TIP ran a series of high-level "war gaming" exercises to explore potential election and transition scenarios. August 2020, TIP released an influential report that outlined the four 2020 election crisis scenario planning exercises for the 2020 United States presidential election. The scenarios examined by TIP included a decisive Biden win, a decisive Trump win, a narrow Biden win, and a period of extended uncertainty after the election..

Other academics, such as Lawrence Douglas in his Will He Go?:Trump and the Looming Election Meltdown in 2020 also did this.

The time is limited as the 20th Amendment has cut the original transition by well over a month. The key date is January 6, 2021, when the Vice president counts the electoral votes in front of a joint session of Congress.

The above is governed by the Electoral Count Act of 1887 passed in that year to prevent crises such as that in 1876-77, and while provisions have been used, the act has never been truly put to the test.

Should a crisis last more than a few days, it is possible that no one will have been declared the victor prior to January 20th, and in that case, the Speaker of the House would become acting president, they would be inaugurated. There may be several inaugurations and up to five different people possibly taking the oath of office. These include:

• Trump/Pence and Biden/Harris taking their oaths at different places simultaneously.
• Acting President Pence taking the oath
• Acting President Harris taking the oath.
• Acting President Pelosi taking the oath.

Whether or not any ancillary entertainment will take place is as yet unknown.

References

1. Swanson, Ian (August 25, 2020). "Inaugural Ceremonies chairman predicts 'socially distanced' inauguration in January". TheHill.
2. August 28, Podcast; Schechtman, 2020 | Jeff (August 28, 2020). "Will He Go?".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
3. Lee, Ella. "Fact check: President Pelosi? No, House speaker wouldn't assume role amid election delay". USA TODAY.
4. Parke, Caleb (August 27, 2020). "Judge Napolitano explains if Pelosi could become acting president if election results are delayed past Jan. 20". Fox News.
5. ^ Marquette, Chris (June 30, 2020). "Inaugural Ceremonies Committee moves ahead with plans for 59th swearing-in". Roll Call. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
6. "AP FACT CHECK: Trump's view of flawed voting is baseless". AP NEWS. July 30, 2020.
7. CNN, Marshall Cohen. "Trump spreads new lies about foreign-backed voter fraud, stoking fears of a 'rigged election' this November". CNN. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
8. Freedland, Jonathan (July 17, 2020). "Trump will cling to power. To get him out, Biden will have to win big | Jonathan Freedland" – via www.theguardian.com.
9. Bruni, Frank (August 22, 2020). "Opinion | Why Biden Needs a Landslide Just to Win" – via NYTimes.com.
10. https://theintercept.com/2020/08/11/trump-november-2020-election/
11. "Transition Integrity Project: Preventing a disrupted presidential election and transition". PAXsims. 2020-08-04. Retrieved 2020-08-09.
12. "Experts Game Out What Might Happen If The Election Goes Off The Rails". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-08-09.

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