IT is set to be the most divisive and volatile presidential inauguration ever.
Donald J Trump will officially take the oath of office today at noon local time (5pm GMT).
Much of the focus will be on the £80million ring of steel behind which Mr Trump will be sworn in as the 45th US President, detailed in our guide to the big day, below.
Concrete barriers, cement-loaded trucks and 25,000 cops and agents will be in place to quieten the thousands of protesters who have pledged to bring chaos to Washington DC.
A million people will line the National Mall to see Trump take the 35-word Oath of Office on the Capitol Building steps.
Former presidents George W Bush, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton will attend with their wives — including beaten Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Britain’s former Ukip leader Nigel Farage is also there as guest of the governor of Mississippi.
While Obama’s first inauguration lasted five days, Trump’s lasts just three. And the post-oath parade, which has gone on for six hours in the past, will be just 90 minutes.
Trump wants to be at his desk by this evening
He is throwing three inaugural balls — Bill Clinton set a new record in 1997 by attending 14 and Obama did ten in 2009.
Trump has also thrown open the Commander-in-Chief ball to include emergency workers, veterans and serving military.
He swooped into Washington with wife Melania and headed straight to a lunch with his inner circle.
At the meeting, he confirmed businessman Woody Johnson, owner of American football team the New York Jets, as ambassador to the UK.
Johnson, 69, whose family founded the Johnson and Johnson corporation, was a major contributor to Trump’s campaign.
In Trump’s home city of New York, Republicans who had gathered to hear party grandee Newt Gingrich cheered as the city’s Republican Chairman Ed Cox boasted “a kid from Queens was going to be the next US President”.
Gingrich, 73, said: “It’s going to be a remarkable couple of days.”
The running order
1PM (all times GMT): Donald and Melania will attend a private service at St John’s Episcopal Church opposite the White House, a tradition started by FDR in 1933.
2.30PM: The Trumps, along with Vice- President elect Mike Pence and his wife Karen, will join Barack and Michelle Obama for coffee at the White House.
3PM: Trump and Obama will ride together the two miles to the Capitol building.
4.30PM: The ceremony begins. Mr Pence will take the oath of office first, repeating as it is read to him by Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas.
5PM: Trump will take the oath. He is now president. Like those before him, he will be expected to deliver a landmark speech.
5.30PM: The ceremony ends. The new President and Vice-President will have lunch inside the Capitol’s Sanctuary Hall.
8PM: Donald and Melania will lead a procession along Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House where they will take their seats in a viewing stand to watch more than 8,000 soldiers, floats and marching bands.
MIDNIGHT: Trump will attend three separate black-tie parties where he will dance with the First Lady.
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