Asked if she’ll be attending the inauguration of Donald Trump and his VP JD Vance, Michelle Obama didn’t beat around the bush. A plain and simple “no” was all the explanation she deigned to give.
Obama joins former Speaker, Nancy Pelosi as two of the most high profile women to have rejected the event.
Pelosi attended in 2017, when she was still the House Democratic leader. But that was before the incoming president made jokes about the violent home invasion and hammer attack against her husband, Paul Pelosi.
Trump also referred to Pelosi as “an enemy from within”. He’s described her an “evil, sick, crazy” person and appeared to mouth the word “bitch” on stage before saying, “It starts with a B – but I won’t say it. I won’t say it,” he said during his final campaign rally in Grand Rapids.
Michelle Obama, meanwhile, has experienced racist and sexist attacks from Republicans and from Trump.
Most recently, Trump described Michelle Obama as “nasty” during his campaign and declared on stage in 2024 that she had “made a big mistake” by criticising him, which some took to be a threat. Trump also said Obama was “in over her head” while attending an event highlighting the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote.
Obama has also since spoken about what is was like sitting on stage as Trump was inaugurated in 2017. “There were tears, there was that emotion,” she said on a podcast in 2023. “ But then to sit on that stage and watch the opposite of what we represented on display – there was no diversity, there was no colour on that stage, there was no reflection of the broader sense of America.
Both Michelle Obama and Nancy Pelosi have been described as “petty” and laughed at by Republicans for not attending.
Trump’s team are reportedly “having a good laugh” about Michelle Obama’s decision not to come.
But can you blame these women for deciding enough’s enough?
Trump also did not attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, still at the time raging about the results and incorrectly claiming he’d won the election.
Meanwhile, there is little that’s normal about the ceremony taking place, with the long lineup of billionaires as well as far-right world leaders who’ll be attending (with world leaders typically not invited) and the record amount of money raised.
Tech billionaires will take centre stage and are expected to have prominent seats, including ‘first mate’ Elon Musk, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. In the last few hours, Musk spoke at a victory rally supporting Trump and declared, “We’re going to do great things here.”
Trump’s inauguration committee has brought in more than $200 million from corporations and billionaire leaders. The donations record raises questions about buying influence. Amazon, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Uber, and Toyota have all donated $1 million, while the CEOs of Uber, Meta, and OpenAI have also donated $1 million. Ripple, a cryptocurrency, has donated $5 million. Apple CEO Tim Cook has also donated $1 million, having previously described the January 6 insurrection as a “shameful day”.
The $200 million far surpasses the previous record of $107 million (by Trump) in 2016. Biden raised $62 million four years ago.
Meanwhile, plenty of far-right leaders have been invited, including Argentina’s President Javier Milei, Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
Chinese President Xi Jinping was also invited. He is not attending, but his VP Han Xheng will be there.
Those who are not invited? The leaders of traditional allies of the US, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (although Nigel Farage of the far-right Reform UK party was invited and will be there). French President Emmanuel Macron was not invited, and European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen, was not invited. World leaders are traditionally not invited to inaugurationsq, but this year Trump made exceptions in extending invitations to some but not others.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong will be attending, along with Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd, who has shared his opinions on Trump in the past.
Also from Australia, mining magnate and the country’s richest person Gina Rinehart will be there, fresh from partying in Florida with the Trump crew on election night. Packaging mogul Anthony Pratt will also attend, having recently received a Green Card to make a permanent move to the United States. A spokesperson for Rinehart told Nine papers that Trump, “will reward nations.”
Former Liberal Party Vice President, Teena McQueen is also expected to have scored an invite, having recently returned from Thailand where she lunched with Rinehart and Pauline Hanson.
Former presidents, including Barack Obama and George W Bush, will attend as will outgoing president Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris.
For those looking to see who is sitting where and next to whom, inauguration day will occur in the early hours of Tuesday morning for those in Australia, and feature the formal swearing-in ceremony, the president’s first address, musical performances and three inaugural balls.