Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe show was arranged after the cold weather prevented MAGA supporters gathered in the nation\u2019s capital from attending the inauguration. But even considering the meteorological explanation for the Capital One Arena event, it is essential to understand its broader significance.<\/p>\n
Worst-case scenarios<\/h2>\n
Between 1995 and 2000, Richard Wortman, a respected American historian of the Russian Empire, published a two-volume work entitled\u00a0Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy<\/em>. Wortman\u2019s groundbreaking research examined the ceremonies of the Tsars as an instrument for the exercise of absolute power. But Wortmann\u2019s concept of \u2018scenarios of power\u2019 need not be limited to imperial Russia, nor to empires. We can also ask how the scenarios of power in authoritarian states like Russia and China compare to those in Trump\u2019s America.<\/p>\nThe Russian president Vladimir Putin has undergone no fewer than five inaugurations. These have marked a complete departure from Soviet practice, when the General Secretary of the Communist Party was elected at party congresses. Back then, Soviet leaders needed to convince the population and the rest of the world, as well as themselves, that they were oriented toward the future. In 1961, under the orders of Nikita Khrushchev, the faceless, modern Palace of Congresses was constructed inside the Kremlin. The only decoration was a gigantic red banner hung behind the stage, complemented by an oversized statue (or portrait) of Lenin.<\/p>\n
Boris Yeltsin was inaugurated twice in the same building, later renamed the State Kremlin Palace. Both occasions were brief. On the second, the red banner and images of Lenin had disappeared. The patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church took part instead, despite the constitution\u2019s separation of Church and State.<\/p>\n
Under Putin\u2019s reign, the inauguration ceremony changed again. Reflecting the imperial nostalgia of the new Russian ruler, it was moved to the old Grand Kremlin Palace, constructed in 1849 and rich with gilded interior decorations. Honour guards in Napoleonic-era uniforms were introduced, as was a festive prayer service led by the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus. The national anthem of the Russian Federation \u2013 a revamped version of the Stalinist original, with new lyrics replacing Lenin\u2019s name with God\u2019s \u2013 was complemented by a performance of \u2018Glory\u2019, the epilogue of Mikhail Glinka\u2019s opera A<\/em>\u00a0Life for the Tsar<\/em>. Transforming the inauguration into an ersatz coronation, the spectacle\u2019s anonymous directors created a mashup of national-historical stereotypes. The result resembled a surreal restaging of Tchaikovsky\u2019s\u00a0Nutcracker<\/em>, with guards dressed like the prince dancing around the \u2018Mouse King\u2019 \u2013 the newly elected president of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\nUnlike the Russians, the Chinese do not glorify their imperial past by re-staging the ceremonies of the court of Empress Dowager Cixi. Instead, they remain devoted to the Soviet-style party congresses that Chairman Mao borrowed from Stalin. While post-Soviet Russia pretends to be imperial, capitalist China pretends to be communist. The decoration of the Great Hall of the People that dominates Tiananmen Square is minimal, reduced to a backdrop of gigantic red banners. The musical accompaniment is limited to the anthem, sung by the delegates. Devotion to tradition is meant to create an illusion of stability in power, regardless of the changes it may undergo.<\/p>\n
Markers of power<\/h2>\n
The Capital One Arena is, alas, neither the Grand Kremlin Palace nor the Great Hall of the People. If the ceremony unexpectedly alluded to a distant imperial past, it was instead due to the actions of President Trump.<\/p>\n
From the outset, the event had the character of a \u2018poor man\u2019s inauguration\u2019, a carnival version of the official ceremony with all the solemnity of a provincial campaign rally. Not even the antics of Musk could warrant its comparison with a Reichsparteitag<\/em>. That the American musical canon lacks marches of German or Russian calibre was impossible to ignore; if anything, the interminable brass band music created the atmosphere of a circus. The only difference was that in the Capital One Arena, the audience was kept waiting for hours for the appearance of the wild predators.<\/p>\nThe parade itself, featuring school cheerleaders and overweight policemen, was no match for the one Trump had seen in Paris on Bastille Day during his first presidency and had wanted to replicate (it turned out to be too expensive). However, with one act, the president \u2013 who appeared visibly bored \u2013 managed to transform the Barnum Circus into a Circus Maximus. Despite being a far more telling gesture than Musk\u2019s salute, it attracted very little comment.<\/p>\n
After theatrically signing a series of executive orders, Trump began throwing Sharpie markers into the audience, watching with undisguised pleasure as his followers fought over the presidential souvenirs. Especially produced for signing documents and adorned with Trump\u2019s signature in gold, these felt-tips have become a symbol of his larger-than-life persona. The president obviously needs his signature to be visible from a distance and can\u2019t rely on Montblanc fountain pens, the utensil of choice for most world leaders.<\/p>\n
At this moment the democratically elected leader of the most powerful country in the world was acting like a Roman emperor. In ancient Rome, the tradition of congiarium<\/em> \u2013 throwing coins to the plebs \u2013 took various forms. The historian Cassius Dio wrote that \u2018Nero would throw among the crowd tiny balls, each one appropriately inscribed, and the articles called for by the balls would be presented to those who had seized them\u2019. The imperial biographer Suetonius described how Caligula \u2018scattered large sums of money among the commons from the roof of the basilica Julia for several days in succession\u2019. The emperor Elagabalus \u2013 another notorious decadent remembered as the inventor of rose-petal orgies \u2013 was known to throw pieces of gold and silver into the crowd.<\/p>\nEven if the gifts Trump scattered amongst his audience at the Capital One Arena sell for between $1 and $2.50 a piece, the comparison is striking. It is difficult to imagine that the neo-imperial gesture of the POTUS was scripted in advance. Most likely, it was a genuine demonstration of his feelings towards his supporters. This should not reassure us. Even more than Musk\u2019s \u2018Roman salute\u2019, it is the congiarium<\/em>\u00a0of Trump that indicates the Republic is in peril.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n[ad_2]
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[ad_1] Global media coverage of Trump\u2019s inaugural parade at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC focused on one episode alone: the raised hand of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":278598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.eurozine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/U_S_Army_Bands_support_60th_Presidential_Inauguration_8836477-1024x819.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe show was arranged after the cold weather prevented MAGA supporters gathered in the nation\u2019s capital from attending the inauguration. But even considering the meteorological explanation for the Capital One Arena event, it is essential to understand its broader significance.<\/p>\nWorst-case scenarios<\/h2>\nBetween 1995 and 2000, Richard Wortman, a respected American historian of the Russian Empire, published a two-volume work entitled\u00a0Scenarios of Power: Myth and Ceremony in Russian Monarchy<\/em>. Wortman\u2019s groundbreaking research examined the ceremonies of the Tsars as an instrument for the exercise of absolute power. But Wortmann\u2019s concept of \u2018scenarios of power\u2019 need not be limited to imperial Russia, nor to empires. We can also ask how the scenarios of power in authoritarian states like Russia and China compare to those in Trump\u2019s America.<\/p>\nThe Russian president Vladimir Putin has undergone no fewer than five inaugurations. These have marked a complete departure from Soviet practice, when the General Secretary of the Communist Party was elected at party congresses. Back then, Soviet leaders needed to convince the population and the rest of the world, as well as themselves, that they were oriented toward the future. In 1961, under the orders of Nikita Khrushchev, the faceless, modern Palace of Congresses was constructed inside the Kremlin. The only decoration was a gigantic red banner hung behind the stage, complemented by an oversized statue (or portrait) of Lenin.<\/p>\nBoris Yeltsin was inaugurated twice in the same building, later renamed the State Kremlin Palace. Both occasions were brief. On the second, the red banner and images of Lenin had disappeared. The patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church took part instead, despite the constitution\u2019s separation of Church and State.<\/p>\nUnder Putin\u2019s reign, the inauguration ceremony changed again. Reflecting the imperial nostalgia of the new Russian ruler, it was moved to the old Grand Kremlin Palace, constructed in 1849 and rich with gilded interior decorations. Honour guards in Napoleonic-era uniforms were introduced, as was a festive prayer service led by the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus. The national anthem of the Russian Federation \u2013 a revamped version of the Stalinist original, with new lyrics replacing Lenin\u2019s name with God\u2019s \u2013 was complemented by a performance of \u2018Glory\u2019, the epilogue of Mikhail Glinka\u2019s opera A<\/em>\u00a0Life for the Tsar<\/em>. Transforming the inauguration into an ersatz coronation, the spectacle\u2019s anonymous directors created a mashup of national-historical stereotypes. The result resembled a surreal restaging of Tchaikovsky\u2019s\u00a0Nutcracker<\/em>, with guards dressed like the prince dancing around the \u2018Mouse King\u2019 \u2013 the newly elected president of the Russian Federation.<\/p>\nUnlike the Russians, the Chinese do not glorify their imperial past by re-staging the ceremonies of the court of Empress Dowager Cixi. Instead, they remain devoted to the Soviet-style party congresses that Chairman Mao borrowed from Stalin. While post-Soviet Russia pretends to be imperial, capitalist China pretends to be communist. The decoration of the Great Hall of the People that dominates Tiananmen Square is minimal, reduced to a backdrop of gigantic red banners. The musical accompaniment is limited to the anthem, sung by the delegates. Devotion to tradition is meant to create an illusion of stability in power, regardless of the changes it may undergo.<\/p>\nMarkers of power<\/h2>\nThe Capital One Arena is, alas, neither the Grand Kremlin Palace nor the Great Hall of the People. If the ceremony unexpectedly alluded to a distant imperial past, it was instead due to the actions of President Trump.<\/p>\nFrom the outset, the event had the character of a \u2018poor man\u2019s inauguration\u2019, a carnival version of the official ceremony with all the solemnity of a provincial campaign rally. Not even the antics of Musk could warrant its comparison with a Reichsparteitag<\/em>. That the American musical canon lacks marches of German or Russian calibre was impossible to ignore; if anything, the interminable brass band music created the atmosphere of a circus. The only difference was that in the Capital One Arena, the audience was kept waiting for hours for the appearance of the wild predators.<\/p>\nThe parade itself, featuring school cheerleaders and overweight policemen, was no match for the one Trump had seen in Paris on Bastille Day during his first presidency and had wanted to replicate (it turned out to be too expensive). However, with one act, the president \u2013 who appeared visibly bored \u2013 managed to transform the Barnum Circus into a Circus Maximus. Despite being a far more telling gesture than Musk\u2019s salute, it attracted very little comment.<\/p>\nAfter theatrically signing a series of executive orders, Trump began throwing Sharpie markers into the audience, watching with undisguised pleasure as his followers fought over the presidential souvenirs. Especially produced for signing documents and adorned with Trump\u2019s signature in gold, these felt-tips have become a symbol of his larger-than-life persona. The president obviously needs his signature to be visible from a distance and can\u2019t rely on Montblanc fountain pens, the utensil of choice for most world leaders.<\/p>\nAt this moment the democratically elected leader of the most powerful country in the world was acting like a Roman emperor. In ancient Rome, the tradition of congiarium<\/em> \u2013 throwing coins to the plebs \u2013 took various forms. The historian Cassius Dio wrote that \u2018Nero would throw among the crowd tiny balls, each one appropriately inscribed, and the articles called for by the balls would be presented to those who had seized them\u2019. The imperial biographer Suetonius described how Caligula \u2018scattered large sums of money among the commons from the roof of the basilica Julia for several days in succession\u2019. The emperor Elagabalus \u2013 another notorious decadent remembered as the inventor of rose-petal orgies \u2013 was known to throw pieces of gold and silver into the crowd.<\/p>\nEven if the gifts Trump scattered amongst his audience at the Capital One Arena sell for between $1 and $2.50 a piece, the comparison is striking. It is difficult to imagine that the neo-imperial gesture of the POTUS was scripted in advance. Most likely, it was a genuine demonstration of his feelings towards his supporters. This should not reassure us. Even more than Musk\u2019s \u2018Roman salute\u2019, it is the congiarium<\/em>\u00a0of Trump that indicates the Republic is in peril.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n[ad_2]\nSource link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"[ad_1] Global media coverage of Trump\u2019s inaugural parade at the Capital One Arena in Washington, DC focused on one episode alone: the raised hand of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":278598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[154],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}](\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:U_S_Army_Bands_support_60th_Presidential_Inauguration_(8836477).jpg\"){kind=link}