How the 2021 inauguration differed from 2017 By Luke Perry

The Utica College Center of Public Affairs and Election Research now has a YouTube Channel that provides short videos, interviews, and special events.

Today Joe Biden was inaugurated the 46th president of the United States before the most heavily fortified and sparsely populated ceremony in modern history, a sharp contrast to just four years ago.

In 2016, I was in Washington for the last presidential inauguration, teaching at the Washington Center. I wandered the empty streets of the parade route the night before with my friend and colleague Julia Azari. There was great uncertainty about what the Trump presidency would entail following a tumultuous 2016 presidential campaign.

We took a moment to recognize how our memories of that instant would forever be intertwined and briefly enjoyed the frivolity of parading through the capital alongside empty bleachers and majestic buildings.

I easily made my way into the inauguration grounds, not knowing that the crowd size and weather would become the first of over 30,000 false and misleading claims made by the new president. The mall was not full and it rained while President Trump was speaking, Driving north days later I was bewildered to hear a president assert otherwise.

What is this presidency going to be like? I wondered. Now we know.

Donald Trump has bent the norms of the office of the presidency, party politics, and democracy like few other modern presidents. He leaves office with the lowest approval rating of his tenure and the first one term president in 30 years. There is no presidential parade this year due to to a year-long pandemic and concerns about more violent attacks on the Capitol.

What is lasting impact of the Trump presidency? What comes next? These are the key questions in the days and weeks ahead.

Luke Perry (@PolSciLukePerry) is Professor of Political Science at Utica College

Technical assistance provided by Laura Lewin (Director of Convergence Media at Utica College) and Mackenzie Lowden (Utica College student and intern)