2025 US Presidential Inauguration： Western Standard Live Coverage
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
69.75948
Summary
Learn English with John Keaton and Amy Klobuchar at the 60th Inaugural Ceremony at The People's House in Washington, D.C. on January 20, 2020. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice-President-elect Mike Pence take their oath of office.
Transcript
00:00:30.000
Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice President-Elect of the United States,
00:02:00.000
Ladies and gentlemen, escorting the President-elect, the Staff Director for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, Elizabeth Farah, House Sergeant-at-Arms, the Honorable William P. McFarland, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms and Doorkeeper, the Honorable Jennifer A. Hemingway, Senate Majority Leader, the Honorable John Thune, and the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, House Democratic Leader, the Honorable Hakeem G.
00:02:30.000
House Majority Leader, the Honorable Steve Scalise, Speaker of the House of Representatives,
00:02:36.540
the Honorable Mike Johnson, Senate Democratic Leader, the Honorable Charles E. Schumer,
00:02:42.980
Ranking Member of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, the Honorable
00:02:47.320
Deb Fischer, and Chairwoman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies,
00:03:00.000
Ladies and gentlemen, the President-elect of the United States,
00:05:27.920
Please welcome the chairwoman of the Joint Congressional Committee on
00:05:35.760
Inaugural Ceremonies, the Honorable Amy Klobuchar.
00:05:38.800
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the 60th presidential inauguration. Today,
00:05:52.880
Today, President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Vance will take their oath of office, and
00:06:00.560
we will witness the peaceful transfer of power at the heart of our democracy.
00:06:13.440
For the past year, I've chaired the inaugural ceremony committee, which includes the leadership
00:06:22.240
We thank the committee and capital staff and law enforcement who worked so hard over the
00:06:32.020
You've done a beautiful job and you have shown grace under pressure.
00:06:47.680
The presence of so many presidents and vice presidents here today is truly a testament
00:06:59.380
We welcome Vice President Harris and Doug Emhoff, President Obama, President Clinton
00:07:05.340
and Secretary Clinton, President Bush and Laura Bush, Vice President Pence, Vice President
00:07:12.620
Quayle and Marilyn Quayle. The justices of the United States Supreme Court are with us,
00:07:19.660
all nine of them I counted, and of course the Trump and Vance families. This ceremony marks
00:07:27.580
what will soon be 250 years of our democracy. It is the moment when leaders elevated by the will
00:07:36.380
of the people promise to be faithful to our constitution to cherish and defend it it is the
00:07:43.100
moment when they become as we all should be the guardians of our country through war and peace
00:07:51.020
through adversity and prosperity we hold this inauguration every four years and today it falls
00:07:58.140
on martin luther king day a further reminder that we must strive to uphold the values enshrined
00:08:05.260
in our Constitution, the freedoms, the liberties, and, as is inscribed on the
00:08:11.880
entrance of the United States Supreme Court, equal justice under law.
00:08:24.020
But what makes this moment more than a passing ceremony is all who are watching
00:08:30.140
it across the country the people of this nation the ordinary people doing
00:08:35.900
extraordinary things president Kennedy who at one point worked as a senator in
00:08:41.480
this building and would often walk through this very rotunda one said in a
00:08:47.000
democracy every citizen regardless of interest in politics holds office every
00:08:53.140
one of us is in a position of responsibility with that responsibility
00:08:59.420
of citizenship comes an obligation not to seek out malice as president lincoln once reminded us
00:09:06.540
but to view others with a generosity of spirit despite our differences with that responsibility
00:09:13.500
of leadership comes an obligation to stand our ground when we must and find common ground when
00:09:20.700
we can with everything swirling around us the hot mess of division it is on all of us to quote an
00:09:28.940
incredible songwriter who just happened to be born in my state to ensure that our nation's democracy
00:09:36.540
is our shelter from the storm there's a reason this ceremony takes place at the capitol in other
00:09:45.660
countries it might be in a presidential palace or a gilded executive office building here it is
00:09:51.500
traditionally held at the capitol the people's house it is a fitting reminder of the system of
00:09:58.220
checks and balances that is the very foundation of our government three equal branches of
00:10:06.060
government that is how for nearly 250 years our great american experiment grounded in the rule
00:10:14.140
of law has endured so as we inaugurate a new president and vice president let us remember
00:10:23.980
that the power of those in this room comes from the people.
00:10:29.900
The construction workers who build our country,
00:10:33.380
the teachers and healthcare workers who nurture us,
00:10:39.000
and yes, the firefighters in Los Angeles putting themselves on the line for us.
00:10:53.980
Our democracy's strength and grit must match theirs.
00:11:28.980
Endurance through the years is the ultimate test.
00:11:32.980
To persevere through time is the truest measure of an idea, an institution.