- By Prateek Levi
- Wed, 22 Jan 2025 11:30 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Tech Figures at Trump's Inauguration: On January 20, Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. In his address, he declared, "Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced." He further stated, "From this moment on, America’s decline is over."
The day began with Trump attending a prayer service at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, a long-standing tradition for presidential inaugurations. Later, he and his wife, Melania, were welcomed by outgoing President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden for a tea and coffee reception at the White House’s North Portico.
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Notable tech figures, including Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple’s Tim Cook, Google’s Sundar Pichai, and Tesla's Elon Musk, were also present at the church service. In a curious moment, Pichai was seen using a Pixel 9 (likely the XL version), while Musk was holding an iPhone 16 Pro.
This was particularly striking considering Musk's previous stance against Apple’s collaboration with ChatGPT’s creator, OpenAI. Musk had publicly criticized the partnership, claiming that if Apple integrated OpenAI into its operating system, it would constitute “an unacceptable security violation.” He even joked about banning Apple devices at his companies, stating, "Visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage." Musk had also expressed concerns about Apple’s handling of user data, stating, “They’re selling you down the river.”