Trump to hold rally in downtown DC one day before inauguration

Stephanie Lai, Bloomberg News on Jan 2, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Donald Trump will host a victory rally a day before he is sworn in as president for the second time, an event that gives the president-elect wide latitude to stage a freewheeling spectacle before the more serious inauguration events.

Trump is slated to give remarks at Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, D.C., on the afternoon of Jan. 19, according to a ticket reservation link on Trump’s inauguration website that was sent to supporters.

The rally is the culmination of the stunning turn in Trump’s political fate, after leaving office in 2021 as a political pariah following the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He’ll return later this month to a 20,000-seat arena packed with supporters and an event that is likely to feature some of Trump’s closest political allies lauding his second term.

Events of this type are rare for incoming presidents who generally lay low on the day before their swearing in, inaugural address and parade. But Trump, who rose to significance first as a reality television star, has been known to revel in the pageantry of large events where he can galvanize his fans.

The event has the potential to present two versions of Trump in close proximity: an unbridled, rally Trump, who feeds off his fans’ energy and enjoys disregarding the teleprompter, compared to what could be a more somber version of the president the following day on the Capitol steps.

The Jan. 19 event is reminiscent of a rally in the final days of the campaign at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. That event included several controversial moments, including an incendiary joke from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe where he called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” That drew significant backlash from Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

The rally gives Trump a platform to preview the first actions he plans to make as president. He has pledged a flurry of executive orders that will spark a wave of mass deportations, open up domestic oil production and impose sweeping tariffs on imports from across the globe. He has also said he will issue pardons for those convicted on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, which punctuated the end of his first term in office.