Biden World Fears Trump Will Bring 'Weird Shit' to Their Inauguration [View all]

[demmiblue]

President-elect Joe Biden’s team is confronting a logistical headache as it prepares for his formal inauguration on January 20, 2021: How can you hold a mass-attended event in the midst of a pandemic while also preventing it from becoming a Trumpist counter-protest?

At issue is a potentially combustible mix of complications owing to the likelihood that both COVID-19 and President Donald Trump’s hurt feelings will persist into the time when Biden is scheduled to be sworn into office.

Officials who have been involved in talks around inauguration planning said public safety would be top of mind. Over the campaign, Biden consistently downscaled events or went entirely virtual to ensure no risk of COVID spread on his behalf. The expectation is that that mindset won’t change for his inauguration.

“Inaugurals always require intricate planning. This one will be a really delicate dance to have that element of accessibility without risk,” said Steve Kerrigan, who served as the CEO of the 2013 Presidential Inaugural Committee (PIC). “I cannot see a president-elect Biden, like Trump, putting narcissism or ego ahead of the safety of people.”

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One senior adviser who helped organize a recent inaugural, said that the bipartisan, bicameral congressional committee is not obligated to follow the incoming president’s lead, but that it customarily does so. But there is added confusion about what might happen this year as Trump continues to contest the election results. The current chair of the congressional committee, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), said on Sunday that they were “anticipating an outside, full-scale inauguration that's easier to scale back than to scale up.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/biden-world-fears-trump-will-bring-weird-shit-to-their-inauguration