Axelrod suggested that the high-profile event scored a win for Republicans, giving them a running start to the next four years of the Trump administration. 

“Objectively, if you were sitting over in the WH this AM, you probably are well satisfied with how yesterday went,” Axelrod said in a post to X. “They wanted to strike an image of action and stamina, and they did.” 

Axelrod, who once advised former President Barack Obama, said the Trump team was able to create the positive perception because the president’s “broadly unpopular blanket J-6 pardons were deferred until the evening so as not to step on the story.” 

The Inauguration Day turned out to be one of the more unusual ones in recent history. It was also one that the White House later touted for getting a headstart on accomplishing Trump’s agenda, including issuing “42 Executive Orders, Memoranda, & Proclamations 115 Personnel Actions, [and] over 200 Executive Actions.” During his swearing-in speech, the 47th president announced his slew of executive actions would restrict illegal immigration, tap into the U.S.’s oil supply, and reinstate military members axed from the service for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccines, among other priorities.

In a historic turn of events, Trump’s swearing-in ceremony took place indoors in the Capitol Rotunda due to frigid weather.

“I return to the presidency, confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success,” Trump said after he took the oath of office. “A tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world.”

The traditional inaugural parade was also held indoors at the Capital One Arena. Packed in the amphitheater were roughly 20,000 of the over 250,000 supporters who bought tickets to attend the originally planned inauguration outdoors. 

Trump ended up giving multiple speeches throughout the day, first a traditional address immediately after he was sworn in, then remarks at Emancipation Hall, and finally addressing supporters at the arena. 

He also signed a host of executive orders, both at the arena and later Monday evening while surrounded by press in the Oval Office. 

In addition to Axelrod praising Trump for pulling off the inaugural activities, a host of Democrats joined in the festivities Monday, signaling that the Left’s resistance to Trump has considerably softened since he first ran for office. 

In the audience at the Capitol Rotunda were several one-time Democrats who have become firm Trump allies, such as his Cabinet nominees, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard.

A collection of once left-leaning Big Tech leaders who have increasingly distanced themselves from anti-Trump rhetoric also lined the Capitol Rotunda. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, formerly a vocal Trump critic, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who said in 2016 that the Republican leader was “eroding our democracy,” were among the converted skeptics applauding the president Monday. 

Meanwhile, anti-Trump protests surrounding the inauguration were poorly attended compared to when he took office in 2017. The Women’s March, rebranded this year as the People’s March, attracted far fewer than the expected 50,000 participants this year after the event drew 500,000 progressive demonstrators eight years ago.

Congressional opposition to Trump was muted, too, compared to resistance at his first inauguration. 

At the time, scores of House Democrats boycotted the event. This year, that number dwindled to a little more than a handful. 

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), a self-described progressive Democrat, said she attended the inauguration because she believes in a peaceful transfer of power. 

“Whether I like it or not, Donald Trump won this election, fair and square,” she explained in a video announcing her decision. “ … Going to the inauguration, showing that I understand that elections matter that what the people want matters is one small step that I can take.”