--- title: Trump Inauguration: Rain Starts During Donald Trump Speech description: Rain began to fall the moment Donald Trump started giving his first speech as President of the United States on Friday canonical: https://time.com/4641165/donald-trump-inauguration-rain/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-20T17:34:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:38:22.082Z article:section: Politics og:title: It Started Raining the Moment Donald Trump Was Inaugurated President og:description: "So fitting" og:url: https://time.com/4641165/donald-trump-inauguration-rain/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta26f84917fbb427b/6988b668196cf481a103e8cb/donald-trump-inauguration-rain.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: donald-trump-inauguration-rain og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: It Started Raining the Moment Donald Trump Was Inaugurated President twitter:description: "So fitting" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta26f84917fbb427b/6988b668196cf481a103e8cb/donald-trump-inauguration-rain.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # It Started Raining the Moment Donald Trump Was Inaugurated President > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 20, 2017 5:34 PM UTC  President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2017 in Washington, DC. Chip Somodevilla—2017 Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jan 20, 2017 5:34 PM UTC Rain began to fall the moment [Donald Trump](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2016-donald-trump/) started giving [his first speech](http://time.com/4640707/donald-trump-inauguration-speech-transcript/) as [President of the United States](http://time.com/4640703/donald-trump-inauguration-day-2017/?xid=homepage) on Friday. Supporters of the new commander-in-chief took Mother Nature’s timing as a sign of cleansing, while his opponents perceived it as the sky joining them in mourning the transition of power. The rain in Washington, D.C., had been [predicted](http://time.com/4640630/donald-trump-inauguration-day-weather-rain/?xid=homepage). Trump himself said he would take the oath of office rain or shine during [remarks](http://time.com/4640317/donald-trump-inauguration-concert-speech/) he gave at a celebration concert on the eve of his inauguration. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Trump had told the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial on Thursday night. “And I don’t care frankly if it’s going to be beautiful or if it’s going to rain like crazy. It makes no difference to me.” Those who gathered on the National Mall to watch Trump’s swearing-in started putting on ponchos and covering their heads from the rain as Trump began his speech about turning America around. “We will shine for everyone to follow,” Trump said. > [](https://twitter.com/MzZenn/status/822493456132165632) > [](https://twitter.com/amosdub/status/822492727468322816) > [](https://twitter.com/cmccorley/status/822492516653989888) > [](https://twitter.com/lyrabjade/status/822492928375484418) > [](https://twitter.com/Schnitzer/status/822489930517676033) > [](https://twitter.com/zadolphin/status/822492499314757633) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4641165/donald-trump-inauguration-rain/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4641165/donald-trump-inauguration-rain/"},"headline":"It Started Raining the Moment Donald Trump Was Inaugurated President","datePublished":"2017-01-20T17:34:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:38:22.082Z","description":"\"So fitting\"","url":"https://time.com/4641165/donald-trump-inauguration-rain/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta26f84917fbb427b/6988b668196cf481a103e8cb/donald-trump-inauguration-rain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta26f84917fbb427b/6988b668196cf481a103e8cb/donald-trump-inauguration-rain.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald-trump-inauguration-rain","caption":"President Donald Trump at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2017 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—2017 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4641165/donald-trump-inauguration-rain/","name":"It Started Raining the Moment Donald Trump Was Inaugurated President"}}]}] ```