As seating charts go, this was a tricky one.
There is room for about only 800 seats inside the Capitol Rotunda, so when Donald J. Trump’s inauguration was hastily moved indoors, that meant whoever made it inside was going to have to sit cheek-to-jowl.
And what a fascinating dramatis personae it was, all sardined together. There were the many members of Mr. Trump’s dynastic clan; the billionaire characters who populate his colorful entourage; foreign leaders; ex-presidents; and political nemeses who Mr. Trump had vanquished.
This all produced an extravaganza of surreal visuals and interplays. Former President Barack Obama sitting inches from Dana White, the chief executive of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chatting with Susie Wiles, Mr. Trump’s new chief of staff. The Democratic establishment sitting among the Silicon Valley lords who just turned on them, and who are now trying desperately to endear themselves to the MAGA establishment.
It was all terribly awkward at points. Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and former Vice President Kamala Harris sat stone-faced — one staring at the floor, the other straight ahead — as Mr. Trump, inches away, railed about “the many betrayals that have taken place” over the past four years.
When Mr. Trump said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, Mrs. Clinton began visibly shaking with laughter, even as the other Democrats around her kept it together. (After his address, Mr. Trump spoke to a roomful of supporters elsewhere in the Capitol and cracked: “Hillary, she didn’t look too happy today.”)