As he was sworn into office, Joe Biden promised unity and an end to the “uncivil war” dividing America. But nature already appeared to be healing on Twitter, where life as an extremely online person has been strained over the last four years.
With Donald Trump vanquished from the White House and his favourite platform, the gloom seemed to have lifted and many were doing that rarest of things on the internet: having fun.
The historic day began with Trump making the kind of exit normally reserved for a pantomime villain: departing on Air Force One as Frank Sinatra’s My Way was basted out over the Andrews military base.
But there was a sting in the tail for a man with the most fragile of egos.
What people were wearing captivated many
Guests included former presidents and first ladies, as well as Eugene Goodman, the Capitol Police officer who has been hailed as a hero ever since he lured rioters away from the Senate chambers during the January 6 insurrection.
On Wednesday when he escorted Kamala Harris to the inauguration ceremony in his new role as acting deputy Senate sergeant at arms.
But there was only one winner in the fashion stakes
The democratic socialist and one-time challenger to Biden for the presidential nominee was the tinderbox that set Twitter alight.
And a call back to a joke earlier in the day
And then, inevitably, came the photoshops
But it wasn’t just the Bernie Sanders show
Lady Gaga was there too, singing the national anthem and channelling an energy that spanned sci-fi movies and, er, the third party in British politics.
J-Lo featured
Jennifer Lopez performed a medley of This Land is Your Land and America The Beautiful (as well as belting out “Let’s Get Loud!” from her own song), interjecting in Spanish the part of the US Pledge of Allegiance that says: “One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
So did Garth Brooks
The country singer and Republican took off his black Stetson hat to sing an unaccompanied version of Amazing Grace and asked Americans at the ceremony and watching at home to sing along with him for the last verse.
But the ravest of reviews was saved for a relative unknown
Amanda Gorman, 22, became the youngest poet in US history to mark the transition of presidential power, and offered a hopeful vision for a deeply divided country with her performance of The Hill We Climb.