The main theme of President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration weekend will be about "being president for all Americans and getting Americans back to work," Boris Epshteyn, director of communications for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, told the Washington Examiner.
Epshteyn said the specific message Trump wants to send during the three days of events surround his swearing-in is "a message of unity. It's a message of diversity."
Epshteyn's comments come despite the unprecedented number of people planning to protest, Politico reports. The National Park Service has credentialed at least 28 groups on the National Mall and is expecting more than 350,000, compared to the five or six requests from groups that they usually receive for inaugurations.
In addition, the number of Democratic members of Congress saying they will boycott the inauguration has increased to 26 following Trump's lashing out at congressman John Lewis, after the civil right icon said Trump was not a "legitimate president."
There have also reportedly been several entertainers who have declined to perform at the inauguration due to what they call Trump's divisiveness.
However, in a sign that some are trying to put partisan politics aside, the Washington Examiner reports that Bill and Hillary Clinton have said they will attend the inauguration, as has President George W. Bush, despite the scorn Trump heaped on him, his legacy and his family during the campaign.
Among the ceremony and festivities, perhaps what will more clearly signal Trump's intentions is his inaugural address, where he can lay out his vision and state his priorities for his administration, which he hopes to jump-start with a flurry of legislation in the first 200 days.
"My impression is that President-elect Trump really wants to impress people [in his inauguration address] with how he can be a man of dignity, that he's capable of avoiding being the kind of person who seems obsessed with tweeting, and often about trivial matters," University of North Georgia Prof. Douglas Young told the Washington Examiner.
"My sense is that he's going to try to strike a bipartisan tone."
In an apparent signal of a "get down to work" atmosphere, Trump plans to attend fewer inaugural balls this year than several of his predecessors and the inaugural parade will be shorter by about an hour and a half.
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