Please raise your right hand and repeat after me.

When did you believe this was actually happening?

I, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. do solemnly swear.

I, Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. do solemnly swear.

Was it when Joe Biden took the oath of office 10 minutes early? Was it when the Marine

band struck up Hill to the Chief? It feels a little bit like a time warp where you woke up

from a bad dream. Slate's Jim Newell was at the inauguration, and it's even taken him a second to process it.

So I'm just only, like, allowing myself to breathe for the first time now.

Oh, I know.

I feel like I'm going to let myself breathe next week.

I'm like, it's not real.

It's not real.

Yeah, maybe I'm being, I'm being naive breathing now, you know, three hours after the inauguration.

Jim was seated right up front next to the guy with the big drum, marveling at the normalcy of it all.

In spite of the half-mile perimeter, he had to navigate to get there.

And in spite of having to walk through one metal detector after another, and scanning a QR code to show he was COVID-free.

Some of the members I spoke to there, they all said they felt safe. Although apparently some members were wearing body armor under their clothes.

Really?

Yeah.

This strange sense of normalcy layered over bizarre circumstances.

It carried over to Joe Biden's speech, too.

He talked about the coronavirus and climate change and the need for everyone to work together.

...