Nobody summed up the funereal mood of MSNBC’s inauguration coverage on Monday quite like Rachel Maddow, the star anchor and de facto TV therapist for liberals who cannot bring themselves to believe that Donald Trump is, once again, the president.
“How is this happening?” she asked.
Her co-host Joy Reid had bemoaned “the takeover of the United States by a base mentality of greed and corruption.” The anchor Nicolle Wallace lamented “all the grifting.” And Ms. Maddow, having glimpsed Kristi Noem, Mr. Trump’s pick to run homeland security, next to Tim Cook, the Apple chief executive, in the V.I.P. section, seemed at a loss.
“Why,” she asked, “are people with tons of money up on the dais with cabinet nominees and family members?”
Over on Fox News, the atmosphere felt different. The hosts narrated the proceedings like happy commentators at a parade.
“The next vehicle that will come up is called the Beast, and that’s the one that takes the president around,” said Dana Perino. “Very secure vehicle, as you can imagine.”
Larry Kudlow, a Fox host who served as Mr. Trump’s chief economic adviser in his first term, referred to the transfer of power as a “spiritual moment.” And the anchor Bill Hemmer sounded in awe of the star of the show.
“Enter Donald Trump, who has the energy sometimes of a hundred men,” Mr. Hemmer said as Mr. Trump made his way to the Capitol. “Donald Trump gets more done before noon than most of us do in an entire week.”
“So get ready,” he added. “It’s back. Trump Time.”
For the season two premiere of Mr. Trump’s presidency, it was perhaps no surprise that cable news resumed the partisan patterns that came to dominate the television world during his first term in office.
But the media landscape has significantly shifted since 2017. On Monday, cameras lingered on the prominent podcasters and digital stars who scored invitations to Mr. Trump’s inaugural. Inside the Capitol were Joe Rogan, Theo Von, Logan and Jake Paul, and one member of the Nelk Boys, all charter members of the so-called “manosphere” that boosted Mr. Trump’s candidacy with young men.
Their reportage had its own unique sensibility. Jake Paul, an influencer-turned-boxer, posted an Instagram video from a shuttle bus on his way to the ceremony, which depicted Mr. Von telling Conor McGregor, the mixed martial arts fighter, to keep his hands off the Paul brothers’ mother.
Old-line media moguls showed up, too. Rupert Murdoch, chairman emeritus of the Fox Corporation, joined Mr. Trump at a Monday church service and then attended his swearing-in. The owner of The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, was awarded a prominent seat.
At one point, the Fox News telecast captured one of the network’s current hosts, Laura Ingraham, snapping a selfie outside the Capitol with Tom Homan, a former Fox contributor who was tapped by Mr. Trump to be his border czar. “There are a lot of smiles happening there,” Ms. Perino observed.
Other attendees with ties to Fox News included the former hosts Tucker Carlson and Kimberly Guilfoyle.
“When he first entered Washington, he was really here to break it,” Kristen Welker, the moderator of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” said of Mr. Trump. “Now he’s got allies in every corner of the Republican Party.”
Many pundits carefully tracked the facial expressions of the dignitaries seated near Mr. Trump as he delivered a speech that was widely compared to a State of the Union address. A smile from Hillary Clinton, or a chuckle from former President George W. Bush, prompted an array of interpretations.
As Mr. Trump denounced the record of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., his predecessor sat mostly silent, and remained seated at the moments when Republicans stood to applaud. “You could almost kind of feel a little bit of the cringe there,” said Dana Bash on CNN.
Immediately after the speech, the Fox News political analyst Brit Hume pointed out that Mr. Trump had made “some quite extravagant promises,” like his pledge to usher in “the four greatest years in American history.”
“Well, one certainly hopes that turns out to be true,” Mr. Hume said, “but it’s quite a big promise.”
Jessica Testa and Katie Robertson contributed reporting.
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