Inaugural activities for the 45th president of the United States are "workmanlike" compared with the hoopla that's accompanied the swearing-in for his predecessors, the Washington Post reported.
"These inaugurations tend to reflect the character, personality and aspirations of the person preparing to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue," Timothy Naftali, a presidential historian at New York University, told the Post.
And, he adds of reality TV veteran and celebrity Donald Trump, "It would be un-Trumpian for there not to be some spectacle."
According to the Post, President Barack Obama’s first inaugural festivities stretched over five days, and Bill Clinton attended 14 official balls on his inauguration day.
Yet inauguration events for Trump will "barely" stretch over three days — and he's set to appear at just three inauguration balls, the Post reported.
President Trump's parade down Pennsylvania Avenue, meanwhile, is expected to take 90 minutes — among the shortest on record, according to the Post.
And while John F. Kennedy played up style and elegance at his inauguration events, and Ronald Reagan leaned on a glitzy Hollywood past for his, Trump has demanded that ticket prices for his inaugural balls go for $50 apiece so working-class Americans who helped fuel his victory can take part, the Post reported.
Simply put, Trump's activities will be "workmanlike," Boris Epshteyn, communications director for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, told the Post.
Thomas Barrack Jr., an international financier who is leading Trump’s inaugural committee, told reporters last week the president-elect is seeking to avoid a "circus-like atmosphere" with his festivities, the Post reported.
And despite the controversy over what celebrities are, or are not, going to entertain, Epshteyn said: "For some of them, that’s like me saying, 'I’m not going to be playing point guard for the Washington Wizards.' Well, I was never asked."
There's one distinctly flashy aspect to Trump's events, the Post reported: the Trump inaugural committee has brought in more than $90 million in private money for the festivities, far more than the $53 million that Obama raised in 2009 for his first inauguration.
At the highest tier — with contributions of $1 million or more — donors will get perks including eight tickets to a "candlelight dinner" featuring "special appearances" by Trump and his wife, Melania, and Vice President-elect Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, the Post reported.