Since 1789, there have been 59 inauguration ceremonies to mark the beginning of a new four-year term of the President of the United States. Inauguration is an important day in American history as it is a day that symbolizes a fresh start and new opportunities.

Inauguration Day, though not deemed a federal holiday, is viewed as one by many. Several important global figures travel around the world to attend and stay for the four-day event. 

In the past, Inauguration Day would just be swearing a new President into office, and a day-long celebration occurring afterward. But in more recent years, inauguration has become world known as a grand event.

Festivities include music, entertainment, fans, balls, and just fun all around. During this upcoming inauguration, country singers Carrie Underwood and Lee Greenwood are scheduled to perform.

Although this is a fun celebration, there are many important lessons and quotes that have come out of inauguration days. Some of the more notable quotes from speeches are  “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country” from John F. Kennedy. 

Inauguration Day is a chance for the next president to speak their mind, and speak directly to US citizens. 

This is a chance for them to give their people validation and hope for the next four years to come. That is not to be taken lightly.

The inauguration ceremony is the most high-profile transition of power between leaders, but instead many people and new organizations are focused on crowd attendance and candidate popularity.

Recently, inauguration day has started causing polarization. Who attends? Why did they attend? Why did they not attend?

Is that really important? This is a live transition of power between an outgoing and incoming president. Americans should be focused on what the new president has to offer, not some petty drama brought to the celebration. 

With all that being said, I hope this inauguration ceremony runs smoothly and focuses on what is important, uniting a country and bringing hope to the citizens of the United States.

This is the 60th inauguration in history, so let’s do it justice. Donald Trump will return to the White House on Monday after officially becoming the 47th president of the United States.

The White House will be live streaming the event. You can watch on any major news platform.

The election of 2024 was a tumultuous one to say the least. From Donald Trump attempting and succeeding to be the second non-sequential president after Grover Cleveland to Biden being the first to drop out of an election, it was a hectic series of months.

The issues that were prevalent in this election were pertinent to say the least. Both parties needed responses to the Israel-Palestine conflict which when questioned about it, gave non-answers avoiding the question and completely alienating a lot of single issue voters. 

Another issue brought up was the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Democratic candidate Kamala Harris fought vehemently for the decision to be reversed, promoting body autonomy for women. Republican candidate Donald Trump took credit for the decision, despite not being in office during its overturning, and stating his plan to restrict access to reproductive rights once his term began. He fear-mongered potential voters into believing the false claim that the Democratic party believed in “executing babies after birth,” a statement made with no evidence.

Speaking of Trump’s campaign, there are several layers to it that are interesting. Before discussing everything else that occurred, it is almost impossible to describe this election without addressing the lack for a better word, elephant in the room, Donald Trump had two assassination attempts against him during his campaign.

Now of course, he survived the attempts, but how did it get to that point? Well, it is a fact that Trump is a felon after his campaign money trial but the Project 2025 leaked document showing the intended plan of the Republican party, dismantling the department of education, eliminating healthcare for trans individuals, and other topics that the Republican party has shifted focus to in recent years. When it was leaked, the party denied its connection to it. Once they won, they stated that it was indeed their plan.

There also needs to be something said about the Republican supporters this time around. Most of them are people who have been “canceled” in recent years, most notably Elon Musk. After a failure with Twitter (now X) losing him half of his investment into the company, Musk pivoted hard into right-wing support. He made numerous appearances in Trump rallies, allowed Trump ads to run on X despite the claims that he is apolitical, and even stayed with Trump during election day. 

Democrats also had questionable things happen on their side during the election. After the first assassination attempt on Trump, Biden’s age was called into question as it appeared that Trump was in better shape to be the president rather than a man who has stumbled his way through debates. This led to Biden dropping out and Harris taking the reins as the Democratic candidate. However, with her joining the race within the last few months, there was a very low possibility that she could win.

With this election, both major parties fumbled their possible wins throughout until the Republicans ended up winning, sheerly due to being more organized. This might affect future election strategies going forward.

The 2024 election was controversial in many different ways, with neither candidate truly winning over a lot of voters. It was up to the different campaigns and press, but they still managed to mostly fumble the bag.

Starting off with the party which for me did the least amount wrong, the Trump campaign continues a path of brash opinions for and retaliatory actions against many people who disagree with them. 

Although they were able to use many forms of modern media such as podcasts to make Trump seem better than he was viewed before, his lack of filter honestly made that pretty obsolete. During one of his rallies comedian Tony Hinchcliffe referred to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” While not an exact negative against Trump, I think it shows a part of his campaign and character to not respond to that comment at a later date or later in that rally. Overall, his final campaign went fairly smooth considering everything going against him.

Now for the party which I think made the most mistakes, possibly one of the biggest campaign fumbles ever.

Beginning all the way in June of 2024, the first debate of the 2024 election took place, including Joe Biden and Donald Trump. This debate performance was truly a huge hit against the Democratic party. 

Biden’s performance in the debate truly displayed his lack of mental capability to complete another term as president. Following the debate performance, intense pressure from the Democratic party and the public, caused Biden to officially drop out of the race. This very late drop out left the Democratic party scrambling for a new candidate. 

This rush left no other option except for former Vice President Kamala Harris to become the main name on the ticket with only around 100 days left until election day. 

Public opinion for the Biden administration has been overall negative for a lot of Americans, and being attached to that truly did a number against Harris’ campaign. However, the thing I think the Democrats did the worst with is they were not able to obtain the excitement for voting that was present in 2020.

 A part of this lack of excitement mostly came from a lack of unity through the party, unlike Republicans who for the most part really felt they could rally behind a lot of Democrats who were upset or disappointed by the results of the ticket. This truly was a humongous hit against the Harris campaign that I really feel was the biggest factor for how she lost.

This election cycle was truly chaotic since the start, and I think that any candidates in the future should really try their hardest to become unified as a party and come in with an exact plan to succeed and possibly even unite the American people.

I have been watching the world grow into chaos since November 5, 2024. I have been watching and waiting as those who believe, or had believed, said that nothing would happen and everything would be fine. 

November 6 is when things finally set in. From immigrants, taxes and tariffs, and women’s rights, all those promises make everything feel more real.

Immigrants make up 13.8% of the American population, the equivalent of 46,118,600 estimated to be living in the US, but Trump wants to create “the largest mass deportation program in history.” 

He plans to end birth-right citizenship referring to Mexican immigrants. He repeats multiple times that they should stay in Mexico or get thrown out by the National Guard or by police force. 

Women’s rights to autonomy are also something he wants his hands on, taking pride in the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Texas, a state that took advantage of the overturn, had a 56% increase in pregnancy deaths, most women going overlooked because of little to no news coverage. 

Taxing China is another important issue businesses are already preparing for. The tariffs feel like the “double it and give it to the next person” challenge since, unlike the ignorant think, the tariffs will hit the US right after China and companies are wondering whether or not they want to take the hit or pass it to consumers. 

Trump has also said that he will lower taxes, which means he plans on implementing no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on social security which leave Americans in a predicament because it will lower the national budget. 

It is points like these that make Americans scared of what 2025 and the rest of his presidency will bring when these are the consequences of his policies and plans.

The exchange that the people will have to deal with because of these policies is criminal. Something else that is criminal is that, in 2020, when Trump lost, his supporters stormed the Capitol, injuring and killing people. On the flip side, when Trump won this election, those against him were devastated and worried for themselves and those they love because of the policies that Trumps wants to put into place.

Today, I think about friends and family that I know will be affected by these policies directly. Tomorrow, I am afraid that my day-to-day will not be the same because of laws that hurt the people I love. 

I plan on holding my friends and family close, hoping that after January 20, I can still enjoy my day-to-day in peace without fearing what the future holds.

In recent elections, the nation has experienced an alarming influx in political polarization. More and more people seem to be favoring political extremes rather than finding a middle ground or a compromise with opposing perspectives. 

Political polarization is the result of focusing on binary party ideologies rather than looking at candidates and party leaders in a more holistic manner.

Individuals that favor extreme conservative or liberal viewpoints tend to have a more close-minded outlook on political issues. It is easy to follow a single perspective because of the current state of our media systems and the impact of echo chambers.

Echo Chambers are platforms on which a person continuously observes certain beliefs or opinions that align with their own, causing the reinforcement of preexisting views. Furthermore, opposing views are not even considered and confirmation biases prevail. 

This phenomenon occurs on several social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok but also on official news sources that are known for right or left wing biases such as CNN and FOX News.

Social media enables the quick spread of political beliefs and ideologies in often emotionally-magnetizing formats. While social media enables free speech and civil rights advocacy for a wider population, it also allows for the spread of false information and fallacious arguments. Posts with emotionally-charged negative language contribute to the echo chamber phenomenon because these are the posts that draw people in.

The resulting political polarization leads to ignorant misunderstandings and even in some cases violence outbursts. Some real world examples of the consequences include the 2020 BLM riots, the assault of Paul Pelosi (husband of Representative Nancy Pelosi), the January 6th insurrection, the shooting of Steve Scalise at a congressional baseball practice in 2017, a man from Michigan assaulting a U.S. Postal Service worker who delivered a Harris campaign mailer to his house, and the recent failed assassination attempt on President Donald Trump.

In order to avoid the harmful consequences of political polarization, critical consumption must be exercised. Critical consumption involves taking in information from multiple sources before formulating an opinion. 

In the midst of so much uncertainty in regards to what news to trust, it is crucial to observe many perspectives with an open and rational mind.