The world waits to see if the 45th president of the United States will go through with his many promises and plans when he becomes the 47th.

Later, Donald Trump will set the tone for what feels to be an unprecedented presidency in an unpredictable time.

Much will be revealed during his inaugural address, the starting gun for a new administration.

“It’s kind of like a baptism of the president. That’s one of the reasons I think that people strive for eloquence,” Craig R Smith, speechwriter for Republican presidents Gerald Ford and George H W Bush, told RTÉ News.

Dark to light

Donald Trump’s first inaugural address in 2017 was branded “some weird sh*t” by former US president and fellow Republican George W Bush.

Mr Trump then coined the phrase ‘American carnage’ and created an image of a country deeply affected by crime, haunted by unemployment and plagued by a political elite that was in it for themselves.

“The American carnage stops right here, right now,” he said.

“From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first,” Donald Trump told the crowd eight years ago.

“It was indeed very dark. It just felt like a sledgehammer being thrown down in the middle of Washington,” Republican Strategist Michael Ricci told RTÉ News.

The former speechwriter for House Speaker John Boehner said he believes that Donald Trump will set a different, more positive tone this time around.

“I think this will be very light, very forward-looking. He’s been talking a lot about the dawn of a Golden Age. You may see him paint a vision of America – in that image in his image growth, prosperity, opportunity, peace, fewer wars and conflicts,” said Mr Ricci.

Making history

There is no requirement in the US Constitution for an inaugural speech, rather it is a tradition that has been built up over time.

Founding Father George Washington set the precedent for future commanders-in-chiefs when he delivered the first one in 1789.

US Presidents now use the moment to share their values and hope to fashion a line that will live for the ages.

Abraham Lincoln sought to hold the Union together and prevent civil war. Theodore Roosevelt appealed to the public to recognise prosperity.

John F Kennedy’s is probably the most quoted.

“And so, my fellow Americans: Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country,” he said in 1961.

Donald Trump will hope to, again, go down in history.

However, he told NBC News that this time, things will be different and the sequel to the monumental ‘American carnage’ is one of bringing Americans together.

“It’s going to be a message of unity. And again, I think success brings unity, and I’ve experienced that…basically it’s going to be about bringing our country together” Mr Trump told ‘Meet The Press’.

It’s all about timing

The length of the speech varies from president to president.

Donald Trump is known for his long, rambling speeches. That being said, his address in 2017 lasted around 16 minutes.

“I think that there is something to be said for less is more when it comes to an inaugural address,” said former speechwriter Craig R Smith.

“When he accepted the nomination this time around for the Republican Party, he went off the script many times and the speech went on for almost 50 or 60 minutes… that would be horribly inappropriate if he did that in this inaugural” the current professor Emeritus of California State University, Long Beach said.

For the first time in 40 years, a presidential inauguration will take place inside the US Capitol rather because of the severe cold forecast.

“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the Country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way,” Mr Trump said on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

The cold is something to take seriously. Nobody wants to linger in sub-freezing temperatures.

“President William Henry Harrison gave the longest inaugural address in 75 minutes and caught a cold. It eventually turned into pneumonia…he was dead a month later. Our shortest president giving the longest inaugural address,” he said.

The warmth inside the US Capitol may offer the president a few more comfortable minutes to set out his stall.

Fata Viam Invenient?

The New Yorker is the first president since Grover Cleveland to have two non-consecutive terms.

“There [are] only two presidents that have done that. When Donald Trump comes forward now, I think he could build on his past record and try to be a little more optimistic than he was in his first inaugural address” said Mr Smith.

During Ronald Reagan’s inaugural address in 1981, he told the crowd: “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

Over four decades later, the message is the same, the will is there for change and the question is will there be a way?