On Sunday before dawn, I walked inside the security perimeter at the U.S. Capitol. The city was quiet on January 12th 2025, the kind of quiet that settles over Washington when the world isn’t watching. The rehearsal for Donald Trump’s inauguration was about to start, and the air carried the sharp bite of winter, -3°C that burrowed into my black coat and fingertips before I’d even had my morning coffee.

Walking through the Crypt, where every President has passed before their moment of swearing in, I felt the ray of light I didn’t expect—a sense of elevation against the intangible bedrock of history. It was more than a hallway. It was a tunnel of transformation, a rite of passage, one every leader of the free world had walked through, perhaps with their own private meditations on what it means to be American. I wasn’t a President, but for a moment, I let myself feel the echoes of that power representing continuity and the peaceful transfer of power.

  • The rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into the White House on Inauguration Day for his second term on January 20, 2025 at 12 p.m. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]
  • The rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]
  • The rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]

What does the President think beneath that arch, in those final steps before stepping into history? What did Trump think the first time? What will he think now, as a man returned, as the survivor of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, where he had once declared: “Fight, fight, fight!”?

The U.S. Marine Band was already in place, tuning their instruments and rehearsing with military precision. Their music sliced cleanly through the freezing air, defying the early hour and the cold that turned breath into plumes of white mist. Even in rehearsal, their sound was impeccable, majestic, and oddly comforting. The press had gathered, their camera lenses fogging up as they captured every moment, the way only history’s voyeurs can.

White House Correspondent Ksenija Pavlovic McAteer, CEO of The Pavlovic Today during the rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]
White House Correspondent Ksenija Pavlovic McAteer, CEO of The Pavlovic Today during the rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]

I stood still, absorbing it all. There’s something almost surreal about a full run-through of an inauguration—the rituals, the cues, the announcements. It was as if we were time travelers, previewing a moment just before it would crystallize forever.

The whole run-down of Inauguration Day was a spectacle to watch, a meticulously choreographed. Every moment, every movement, was rehearsed to perfection. Even the smallest details had been accounted for, down to the stand-ins MSG Matthew Nall for President Trump and GySgt Cecilia Kozlowski for First Lady Melania Trump, ensuring everything unfolded seamlessly on the big day.

  • Master Sgt. Matthew Nall, stand-in for President-elect Donald Trump at the podium during the rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington.
  • The rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into the White House on Inauguration Day for his second term on January 20, 2025 at 12 p.m. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]
  • The rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into the White House on Inauguration Day for his second term on January 20, 2025 at 12 p.m. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]

As the first Serbian-American to hold this front-row ticket to history, I felt the significance acutely. My own story folded into the broader narrative, making history within history. It was a private reckoning, a quiet celebration of what brought me here—a culmination of every choice, every step, every belief that a voice from outside the traditional mold could belong. I wasn’t just witnessing; I was part of it.

The respect for the office of the presidency comes into sharp focus immediately. Standing within the moment feels indescribable, enveloped in an unspoken, almost sacred stillness.

The rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into the White House on Inauguration Day for his second term on January 20, 2025 at 12 p.m. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]
The rehearsal of the swearing-in ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025, in Washington. President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into the White House on Inauguration Day for his second term on January 20, 2025 at 12 p.m. [ Photo credit: The Pavlovic Today]

In the distance, the sun began its slow climb, gilding the top of the Capitol dome in light. The band struck up America the Beautiful, and I knew that this moment would stay with me. These rehearsals are the prologue to our nation’s next chapter, and in this brief interlude before the grand unveiling of Inauguration Day, the history is being written.

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Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Pavlovic Today. Credentialed at the White House, the U.S. Senate Press Gallery and the State Department. Pavlovic was a Teaching Fellow and Doctoral Fellow in the Political...