By Dillon McDuffie Staff Writer
If something worthy of viral acclaim happens at the inauguration and nobody can watch it, does it even matter? If the servers have gone dark, should the speeches even start? How will the TikTok-ing clock affect the presidential inauguration?
At the time of writing this it has been one week since President Trump retook the office. In that time every event surrounding the inauguration has been nitpicked and torn apart. From alleged Seig Heil, collapsing crowd chairs, an enthusiastic George W. Bush, and a first son worthy of the loudest applause, it was safe to say it was a day that provided the nation with a familiar form of entertainment. Entertianment that was given an opportunity to thrive on a freshly saved, TikTok.
To many nations of the world, January 19th was the last full day that President Joe Biden would be the POTUS.; Ironically to many Americans this was instead the day TikTok was dark. Many awoke to an unresponsive app with a message the ended with a conflicting reassurance.
The notification from TikTok read as: “A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”
For both sides of the political spectrum, this meant big impacts. Trump stood to inherit a dilemma that stood upon threats to free speech and American safety, while Biden was set to leave office with much of the Democrats target audience, the American youth was outraged. This was more than measure of social media and public outreach; this was a backbone of self-promotion and public knowledge that the then president elect stood to lose from the get-go.
According to a 2025 survey published by Statista, “Back in 2020, just three percent of respondents to a survey held in the United States stated that they regularly got their news from TikTok. By 2024, this figure had increased almost sixfold to 17 percent.”
It is what some people call the TikTok-ification of modern media, and the app stood between many Americans and one of the most momentous events in United States history. While the vast amount of the media or news passed around on TikTok is not often representative of the events in their entirety, the app still leads to topical engagement in young people not seen in other spaces.
The dark period did not last long though as within 14 hours of the initial shutdown users were greeted with a notification reading as: “Thanks for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the U.S.!” Thus, signaling what can be considered premature impacts, as Trump was yet to take office until the following day, of the presidents soon to be take back of the oval office.
So, what did this mean for the inauguration? Well, given fact that TikTok was a primary tactic used by the Trump campaign and is a steady flow of publicity, both good and bad, the usage of the app allows for the upward trending of that publicity. It is often said that whether the publicity is good or bad, it is at the end of the day publicity, nonetheless. In the case of the consumer driven TikTok approach, the publicity is now cheap and effortless. None however, seemed to be a relevant and polarizing as moments that took place during the actual inauguration of the president himself.
The timing of the inauguration is important to understand. The president does not begin the ceremony upon arrival, there is a strict order of process involved in swearing in a president, one that first begins with the passing of previous Commander in Chief. President Biden does not wake up on inauguration day without power, until 12 PM eastern time he shall remain the leader of the nation. Upon 11:30 eastern the inauguration ceremonies are scheduled to begin with president typically set to be sworn in at noon. The vice president is always sworn in beforehand, and this is where timing begins to play a factor.
The Vice President, JD Vance, was set to be given the oath of inauguration from Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh. Before the oath is set to be read and sworn upon it is typical fashion for the family of the vice president to be to join them; Thus, the Vance family began to make their way to the stage. Vance’s wife, Usha, and their three children, Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel. With the eldest of the children being 7, it took a considerably longer amount of time to reach the stage than it would have for the Trump family, with his children being all being adults.
This is no fault of the Vance family and no attack on the children, however by the time of exit the 12:00 mark was set and here. Donald Trump was supposed to be being sworn in at this moment, and Joe Biden’s term was no longer present. Thus, the process began to speed up.
Chief Justice Kavanaugh exited center stage, and Chief Justice John Roberts took his place. From there forward the pacing changed. Within seconds, three to be exact, of the youngest of the Vance children leaving stage the swearing in of President Trump began. There was no time for pause, no time for celebration, time was up. Chief Justice Roberts was already through with reading the first sentence of the oath by the time the Trump family and specifically, First Lady Melania Trump, reached the stage.
This is where TikTok’s favorite moment of the ceremony happened. As the oath was already begun, Trump’s right hand was raised with the opposite at his side, and not on a Bible.
This was the perfect framing for the moment social networks thrive off. TikTok, had a field day with the moment; As many accused Trump of weaponizing a false faith he claimed to have, others stuck back at the accusations in claim of fearmongering. The app that had not even 24 hours before show more support to the president seemed to be more at arms with each other and with him than ever. TikTok is an app that is based around short form video engagement, with a secondary for pictures and slideshows. The latter of the two is where perception and manipulation comes to play.
The irony within this story could only be so appropriate in this specific case. Upon watching the oath, which would need to be done by video, a rational person would inherently see how the timing of the moment played a part in the pictures that many came to see. The First Lady, Melania, was set to hold the inaugural Bible for her husband, however due to the timing of the incident she, along with her family, were not yet in position. They simply arrived one sentence too late.
To say with absolute certainty that this was the reason would be ignorant, but to discredit would be even more so. For it was a moment allegedly made only possible by its own victim.
The position of power is held within the hands of pressing publicity. It is that of the powerful to both recognize and democratize the power of perspective. For when perspective is controlled, it becomes diminished, and when it becomes diminished it becomes dangerous. As such, only that of a power of the people will power be derived, as a power of a perspective-less people has no chance to survive.
ECC Cornerstone 