Hillary Clinton plays it cool at bitter rival’s victory ceremony

If she was thinking it should have been her, she certainly didn’t show it. Hillary Clinton stood stoic on Friday as the man she defeated by 2.9 million votes took the oath of office. She was steadfast, just as she had been in the presidential debates where soon-to-be victor Donald J Trump repeatedly threatened to jail her.

She was not rattled as chants of “lock her up” emanated from the crowd below the inauguration podium and betrayed no emotion as Trump, who defeated her with an electoral college win, declared an end to the era of politicians who were “all talk and no action”.

The seating arrangements kept Clinton off camera through most of the ceremony, when the focus was instead on Trump across the aisle and Barack Obama, who sat one row ahead of her, to the right.

After Trump’s inaugural address, the president shook hands with his predecessors, bringing him within inches of Hillary Clinton, but the pair were separated by a large man, who blocked the two from making eye contact. They eventually interacted with a handshake at the inaugural luncheon.

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Before the ceremony, cameras found Clinton backstage, taking a deep breath as she prepared to join the audience. As she waited for the ceremony to begin, Clinton spoke with former president George W Bush. The two later leaned into each other as they exited the main stage.

White suit

Clinton adhered to tradition and attended the ceremony as a former first lady. She was dressed in a white suit similar to the one she wore at the Democratic convention last summer in Philadelphia, a time when she looked to be the favourite to win the White House and make history as the first woman president. It is seen as a homage to the suffragettes, who were encouraged to wear white at marches in the early 1900s.

“I’m here today to honour our democracy & its enduring values,” Clinton tweeted just before Trump was sworn in. “I will never stop believing in our country & its future.”

It is not the first time the losing candidate has had a front row seat to their rival’s inauguration: Richard Nixon and Al Gore attended their rivals’ ceremonies as the outgoing vice-presidents. And Clinton attended Obama’s first inauguration, after he defeated her in the Democratic primary.

The chasm between Trump and Clinton, however, was wider than those previous electoral rivalries.

Trump threatened to jail Clinton during the second presidential debate. That same night, Clinton said Trump was the first Republican nominee for president whom she thought was “unfit to serve”.

Electoral college

Clinton is a former secretary of state, lauded New York state senator and two-term first lady. Trump has never held elected office. She was the first woman presidential candidate nominated by a major party, while he bragged about groping women without their consent in a 2005 video released one month before the election.

Clinton's pursuit of the country's highest office ended on November 8th last when she collected nearly three million more votes than Trump, but lost to him in the electoral college. Clinton has since been spotted walking her dog in the woods near her home in upstate New York, speaking to donors and seeing the Color Purple on Broadway with her daughter Chelsea.

Less than a month after her devastating loss, she resumed her political duties. She spoke at a portrait unveiling ceremony for retiring Senate minority leader Harry Reid in December. “This is not exactly the speech at the Capitol I hoped to be giving after the election,” she said.

Clinton left Friday’s inauguration amid a sea of former presidents and first ladies, waving to the crowd and smiling broadly as the ceremony came to an end.

Guardian service