As seating charts go, this was a tricky one.
There is room for about only 800 seats inside the Capitol Rotunda, so when Donald J. Trump’s inauguration was hastily moved indoors, that meant whoever made it inside was going to have to sit cheek-to-jowl.
And what a fascinating dramatis personae it was, all sardined together. There were the many members of Mr. Trump’s dynastic clan; the billionaire characters who populate his colorful entourage; foreign leaders; ex-presidents; and political nemeses who Mr. Trump had vanquished.
This all produced an extravaganza of surreal visuals and interplays. Former President Barack Obama sitting inches from Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chatting with Susie Wiles, Mr. Trump’s new chief of staff. The Democratic establishment sitting among the Silicon Valley lords who just turned on them, and who are now trying desperately to endear themselves to the MAGA establishment.
It was all terribly awkward at points. Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and former Vice President Kamala Harris sat stone-faced — one staring at the floor, the other straight ahead — as Mr. Trump, inches away, railed about “the many betrayals that have taken place” over the past four years.
When Mr. Trump said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, Mrs. Clinton began visibly shaking with laughter, even as the other Democrats around her kept it together. (After his address, Mr. Trump spoke to a roomful of supporters elsewhere in the Capitol and cracked: “Hillary, she didn’t look too happy today.”)
Mr. Obama had to make the long walk into the Rotunda on his own, as did former Vice President Mike Pence. Michelle Obama had also skipped Jimmy Carter’s funeral in Washington on Jan. 9. Karen Pence did show up to that, but she snubbed Mr. Trump, neglecting to shake the hand of a man who had sicced a mob on her husband.
When Mr. Obama filed into his seat, former President George W. Bush leaned forward and said something into his ear to make him laugh. At another point, Mr. Bush — who memorably described Mr. Trump’s last inaugural address as quite weird — looked around a bit mischievously, as though he was trying very hard not to laugh. (A reporter had asked Mr. Bush if he was going to “behave” as he walked into the Rotunda. Overhearing this, Mr. Obama chimed in: “Nope.”)
Anytime the Bidens interacted with the Trumps, it was captivating to watch. They stood strangely together as Mr. Trump was sworn in. His youngest son, Barron, who is especially beloved by the MAGA base, approached Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris to shake their hands.
The Rotunda was filled with Mr. Trump’s children, grandchildren and in-laws, who filed into a row just in front of the one where the tech chief executives sat. Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, took his seat and leaned back comfortably to chat with fellow elites Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder of Amazon, and Lauren Sanchez, his fiancée.
It was amusing to see JD Vance’s tiny mother, Beverly Aikins, who lives in Middletown, Ohio, and is quite new to the world of politics, situated comfortably in the Masters of the Universe row by Mr. Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, the Meta chief executive, and Sundar Pichai, the Google chief executive. Just behind Barron, the billionaire SpaceX chief executive, Elon Musk, giggled and gave a thumbs up when Mr. Trump talked about planting the American flag on Mars.
This was an eye-popping level of wealth and influence on display at the start of the second Trump administration. For the many billionaires who bought their way in, it was both a flex and act of public deference to be there.
There are so many media figures and megadonors genuflecting to Mr. Trump these days that it was interesting to see who made it in. Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News personality, and Laura Ingraham, a current one, stood together. Joe Rogan, the influential podcast host who supported Mr. Trump, was there, too. Also present was the casino magnate Miriam Adelson, who bet big on Mr. Trump; the former Marvel Entertainment chairman Isaac Perlmutter; and the head of the luxury conglomerate LVMH, Bernard Arnault, who brought his son, Alexandre, and daughter, Delphine.
Two of Mr. Trump’s favorite foreign leaders, the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and the Argentine president Javier Milei, stood together and looked around at all the American weirdness playing out around them.
At times, the first lady, Melania Trump, resembled a Cheshire cat, nothing of her face but the occasional grin visible beneath her wide-brimmed hat. She reached up to clamp it down tight on top of her head while she and Mr. Trump walked the Bidens to the helicopter that would take them up and away from Washington for good.
As the Rotunda emptied out, that same reporter in the hall asked Mr. Obama if he had behaved. “Just barely,” he laughed.
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