Less pomp, very different circumstances as DC prepares to inaugurate Biden, Harris Some pomp. Very different circumstances. Inauguration day is supposed to be a star-spangled showcase of inalienable democratic spirit, the sort of patriotic, bunting-festooned display that only happens in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Instead, Wednesday’s ceremony making Joseph R Biden, Jr, the 46th president of the United States is liable to feel more like a shotgun wedding. “It is going to look like a country under siege,” said Brett Bruen, a consultant and former US diplomat who worked as an adviser in Barack Obama’s White House.