We are now less than 72 hours away from Donald Trump taking the oath of office for the second time. Mother Nature is already playing a role: Trump announced that the inauguration ceremony is moving indoors to the Capitol rotunda because of a frigid weather forecast in Washington.
(Side note: The last time the ceremony was held indoors? Ronald Reagan's second inauguration in 1985, when it was 7 degrees.)
Regardless of where it takes place, Trump will have a lengthy to-do list and series of challenges awaiting him once he’s sworn in as the 47th president.
There’s a lot to sort through, so we asked our NBC News colleagues for what they will be watching for in Trump’s first week back in the White House.
Here’s what they said:
Kelly O'Donnell: For Trump, his return to the presidency offers him a fresh start wrapped in a second term. It will be new and yet familiar, wielding his authority to sign executive orders on a range of core issues involving border security and deportations, while using his pen to issue pardons.
I expect he will use the megaphone of the office to reinforce his view that November’s votes give him a broad mandate. The challenge is that expectations among his supporters are high and outside events like the California fires and overseas conflicts will demand his attention. After years of holding a campaign posture, he faces the day-to-day burden of delivering on promises and needs while responding to crises.
Peter Alexander: Beyond the executive orders and his promise to begin mass deportations on Day One, I’ll be watching Trump’s tone. His Republican National Convention speech last summer began with a unifying message before it quickly degenerated. He’s promised his inaugural address will be unifying as well. But eight years removed from his “American carnage” speech, we’ll get our first taste of his tone minutes after he’s sworn in.
Kristen Welker: I will be watching what happens with the war in Ukraine. One of Trump’s most ambitious campaign promises was that he would end the war in the early days of his administration. He told me in December that he was actively working on that effort. But Trump has more recently said that he thinks six months is a realistic timetable and that it would be inappropriate to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue ahead of his inauguration. So will there be any progress in the first week?
Andrea Mitchell: The Middle East will also be a major foreign policy hot spot in Trump's first week. One issue is whether the Gaza ceasefire holds, especially because none of the American hostages are scheduled to be released until at least the second week of the agreement. Related to that is whether the U.S. can get the two-monthlong ceasefire in Lebanon extended, since it expires at the end of next week. And Trump will have to decide whether to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria as he has suggested in the past, despite the new threat of an ISIS resurgence there after the collapse of the Assad regime.
Garrett Haake:Trump and congressional Republicans have taken great pains in the new year to always appear to be singing from the same hymnal. But the December debt and spending debacle underscores how fragile the crosstown alliance between GOP-controlled branches really is. Trump’s first week will be well choreographed on Capitol Hill, but for how long can tiny majorities withstand the tension between Trump’s expensive promises, rising debt and vows to cut costs via outside muscle from DOGE? And what will Trump do when these priorities all begin to come into conflict?
Vaughn Hillyard: Speaking of DOGE, Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has struck a uniquely powerful relationship with the incoming president — one that Trump has historically been uncomfortable with his closest aides or Cabinet members (or even vice president) taking up themselves.
Are his grand plans to upend the machinations of governance in Washington able to be realized? He has already backpedaled on his promise to cut one-third of the annual federal budget, and consequential restructuring of federal departments and agencies is going to require significant buy-in from lawmakers. Is this a power dynamic that can create lasting change, or will the pressures of the promises made lead this relationship to fracture?
