Washington (CNN) Donald Trump has arrived in Washington -- and he's going to be here for at least four years. 
 
 The reality of the moment, that the real estate mogul and reality show star will recite the oath of office Friday, is finally taking hold. 
 
 At noon Friday, the most divisive campaign in recent history -- and a similarly contentious transition period, marked by Trump's attacks on Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights icon, and dozens of House Democrats saying they'll boycott Trump's swearing-in over it -- reaches its end. 
 
 Trump's brash statements about ISIS , his cozy relationship with Russia and his criticism of NATO have the world bracing for a new type of American president. 
 
 But before all that, Republicans and Trump's still-growing staff are set for a celebration. Trump and Vice-President elect Mike Pence go through the ceremony at the Capitol at noon, followed by a parade up Pennsylvania Avenue -- and past Trump's new hotel -- to be followed by a weekend of balls and an anticipated flurry of new executive actions Monday. 
 
 Donald Trump and wife Melania arrive for the inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. 
 
 Speaking at a pre-inauguration concert Thursday night at the Lincoln Memorial, which featured performances by Lee Greenwood, Toby Keith and 3 Doors Down, Trump told the crowd he vowed to be a president "for all our people." 
 
 "It's a movement like we've never seen anywhere in the world, they say. There's never been a movement like this. And it's something very, very special," Trump said. "And we're going to unify our country. And our phrase, you all know it -- half of you are wearing the hat, 'Make America great again.' But we're going to make America great for all our people, everybody. Everybody throughout our country. That includes the inner cities. That includes everybody." 
 
 Later, speaking at a dinner held at Washington's Union Station, Trump thanked Pence, his top advisers and his family as he reflected on his election victory. 
 
 "That was some big victory. That was some victory," said Trump, who also mused that "next time, we're going to win the old fashioned way," an apparent reference to victory in the popular vote as well as the Electoral College. 
 
 Protesters, police scuffle 
 
 Protesters and Washington police scuffled Thursday night outside a meeting of pro-Trump conservatives, the first of several demonstrations aimed at disrupting the new administration's inaugural weekend. 
 
 Protesters gathered on 14th Street outside the National Press Club to demonstrate against "DeploraBall," an event organized by some of Trump's most fervent supporters. The name riffs off the campaign description of some Trump backers by his defeated opponent, Hillary Clinton, as a "basket of deplorables." 
 
 As attendees -- some of whom were clad in suits and red hats, others dressed in gowns -- entered the event, demonstrators chanted "Shame" and "Nazis go home" behind a phalanx of police. Some held signs that read "No Alt Reich" and "No Nazi USA." 
 
 Other protesters chanted against the "alt-right," "fascists" and "Nazi scum," though it could not be immediately determined who was attending the event. 
 
 Some protesters could be seen setting small fires in the streets, though it was unclear what was set ablaze. A motorcycle was damaged on the street, and police could be seen pepper-spraying some protesters. 
 
 Washington waits 
 
 Meanwhile, the transition of power -- from a Democratic president to a Republican one -- has shut down much of Washington and left its thousands of political staffers in quiet anticipation. 
 
 At the same time, President Barack Obama's last boxes are being packed and his few remaining aides are preparing to move out as they enter their last moments hours of Obama's eight years in the White House. 
 
 Obama is spending the last full day of his presidency in the White House on Thursday, where staffers are saying their wistful goodbyes. 
 
 "After six years here, walking through these doors for the final time," White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz tweeted. 
 
 After six years here, walking through these doors for the final time. pic.twitter.com/LUB0DnM4RU — Eric Schultz (@EricSchultz) January 19, 2017 
 
 Outgoing White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest tweeted his thanks to the press corps. "It's been an honor to serve. And to all those fighting for a better future, I'll see you on the other side. Thanks," he wrote. 
 
 It's been an honor to serve. And to all those fighting for a better future, I'll see you on the other side. Thanks. —@joshearnest — Josh Earnest (@PressSec) January 19, 2017 
 
 All around them, Washington is hustling to prepare for Trump's swearing-in on the steps of the Capitol. 
 
 Barricades are up all around the Capitol building and traffic has ground to a halt through downtown Washington, as the Secret Service restricts access to an event where the President-elect, outgoing President, much of Congress and the Supreme Court will be on-hand. 
 
 DC workers are also navigating around the closures of five Metro stops -- Mount Vernon Square, Archives, Federal Triangle, Smithsonian and the Pentagon. 
 
 Out-of-towners are streaming into Washington hotels, and small protests are popping up day and night around the Capitol complex. 
 
 One unexpected bit of inauguration-week drama: Questions over whether the National Park Service would set aside its ban on umbrellas, with rain forecast for Friday's inauguration. 
 
 The decision: Long umbrellas still won't be allowed. But attendees can bring small, collapsible umbrellas. 
 
 Confirmation battles 
 
 On Capitol Hill, members of the Senate are gearing up for an immediate battle over confirming Trump's Cabinet picks. 
 
 About seven nominees may receive confirmation votes Friday afternoon, after Trump's inauguration, while Democrats are already looking to draw out the process with some of the picks, like secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson and HHS nominee Tom Price. 
 
 Obama held his final news conference Wednesday -- and his final interview was with a podcast run by a group of former aides, Tommy Vietor, Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Dan Pfeiffer. 
 
 In his final news conference, Obama offered an optimistic message as his party prepares to watch Republicans reverse many of its accomplishments from his tenure in office. 
 
 "It is true that behind closed doors, I curse more than I do publicly, and sometimes I get mad and frustrated like everybody else does," Obama said. "But at my core, I think we're going to be OK. We just have to fight for it, we have to work for it and not take it for granted." 
 
 After Trump's inauguration, Obama and his family will depart on one last presidential plane ride -- to a vacation in Palm Springs, California. They'll travel back on their own. ||||| Trump’s inaugural speech: What experts say to look for 
 
 WASHINGTON — Having smashed convention at every step of his unorthodox path to the presidency, Donald Trump will stand before the world Friday as heir to a 228-year tradition handed down from George Washington, in a setting steeped in the most cherished rituals of American democracy. 
 
 The centerpiece of the day is the inaugural address. Trump’s speech will be the liftoff point of his journey in office, defining its contours and tone, and setting a course for the nation. 
 
 Trump offered a preview Wednesday, tweeting a photograph of himself holding a pen above a legal pad as he gazed sternly, from a bizarre tableau of Persian tiles and an eagle sculpture, meant to show him writing the speech himself from his “Winter White House” at Mar-a-Lago in Florida. 
 
 Presidential scholars were at a loss to predict what Trump would say Friday. But they had ideas on what he should try to do. 
 
 “This inaugural address will be carefully watched around the world, and the slightest little language usage could set his administration off on a very bad course,” said San Francisco State political science Professor Robert Smith. “It’s not clear he’s capable of becoming, not a politician, not a candidate, not a showman, but a statesman. The whole world is watching to see if he can at least, at the inaugural address, make the transition.” 
 
 Here are five things experts said to watch for: 
 
 Conciliation: Trump takes office with a record low approval rating, after losing the popular vote by 2.8 million votes, a record for a winning candidate. He instills fear among some, and has alienated many women, Latinos, African Americans, Muslims and immigrants. 
 
 “If he wants to appear to be more presidential, he needs to try to reach out to all of America, not just to his more conservative followers,” said David Caputo, president emeritus of Pace University in New York. “That, I think, is his most difficult task, and his most difficult task during his presidency.” 
 
 Promise keeping: At the same time, Trump must also reassure his supporters. “Most of the things he has proposed are profoundly controversial and divisive,” Smith said. “I don’t think he can abandon those promises, but he has to couch them in such a way as to ... reassure the country that he’s not going to go off in any kind of radical new way.” 
 
 Vision: Trump spokesman Sean Spicer said Trump will be “philosophical,” giving “a very personal and sincere statement about his vision for the country.” He also will mention infrastructure, education and manufacturing. 
 
 “We need to see a clear message as to what his priorities are,” said James Thurber, a presidential scholar at American University. That’s because Trump’s Cabinet nominees, in congressional testimony, have contradicted many of his positions, some of which also are at odds with the GOP majority in Congress. 
 
 Trump “is very adept at reading the mood of the country,” Caputo said. “He now has the opportunity to come up with a message and programs that meet that mood.” 
 
 Ad libs: Trump campaigned by holding rallies where he rambled extemporaneously, dropping insults, boasts and prevarications along the way that would have sunk a normal politician. Even on a teleprompter, Trump is prone to ad lib. He speaks in the vernacular, using a limited, hyperbolic vocabulary. 
 
 The question remains as to whether he can adapt this style to the occasion or adopt something with more heft. Aides said the speech will be short and Trump is reviewing previous inaugural speeches for style. 
 
 “He wants to be a combination of Reagan and Kennedy,” Thurber said. “I don’t see him doing that. I see him, in fact, probably going off cue, maybe trying to wing it. If he does, it would be a major problem.” 
 
 Foreign policy: Foreign leaders will be searching for signs of reassurance. Trump has alarmed foreign leaders around the globe with some of his statements, upsetting decades of U.S. policy on China, nuclear proliferation, NATO and other areas. “All of us are scared and so are the Europeans and so are the Asians,” said Richard Abrams, professor emeritus of American history at UC Berkeley. “He’s very unpredictable.” 
 
 What not to look for: Trump defies comparison with previous presidents. The interesting question, Caputo said, is whether “the Trump presidency is a transition to a new type of president and a new way the executive branch functions in the United States.” 
 
 Carolyn Lochhead is the San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington correspondent. Email: clochhead@sfchronicle.com ||||| “Inaccurate numbers involving crowd size were also tweeted,” Spicer continued, because the NPS did not count. (My colleague Robinson Meyer explained how crowd counts at events like the inauguration come about.) He incorrectly characterized ridership statistics provided by WMATA, D.C.’s transit authority. 
 
 Then came the big whopper: “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration—period—both in person and around the globe.” 
 
 Spicer’s statement required dismissing all available evidence: ridership count, eyewitness testimony, independent crowd-counts, and Nielsen television ratings. Spicer cut his teeth at the Republican National Committee as the combative voice of a body often at odds with the media, but even by those standards, his furious insistence on assertions at odds with the evidence were peculiar. 
 
 They are, however, emerging as a hallmark of the administration. For days ahead of the inauguration, Trump aides insisted that the president-elect was writing his own inaugural address, without the aid of speechwriters. They went so far as to stage a photograph that purported to show him writing the speech—though the image showed Trump wielding a Sharpie, and some internet sleuths speculated that the desk he was using is typically used as a reception desk at his Mar-a-Lago estate. 
 
 On Friday, however, The Wall Street Journal reported, “Much of the speech was written by Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon, two of Mr. Trump’s top advisers, a White House official said.” Why mislead the public about who wrote the speech? After all, the news that Miller would be assisting in writing the address had emerged days ago, and there’s certainly no shame in a president employing speechwriters, nor has the practice dimmed positive reception for past presidential addresses. 
 
 Ahead of the inauguration, Trump threw a concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial. “This started out tonight being a small little concert, and then we had the idea maybe we’ll do it in front of the Lincoln Memorial,” Trump said in brief remarks. “I don’t know if it’s ever been done before. But if it has, very seldom.” That claim was also ridiculous, whether it was intentionally misleading or simply badly misinformed. There was a huge, widely covered concert at the memorial to kick off Obama’s inauguration festivities eight years ago. 
 
 These are only three examples of Trump and his aides offering statements that are not only provably false, but easily checked. (There are plenty more where they came from, like Trump’s claim that Russian hacking was not brought up before the election.) 
 
 There was a brief skirmish within the journalism world around the new year, when Wall Street Journal editor Gerry Baker professed wariness about how some of Trump’s statements had been labeled. “I’d be careful about using the word ‘lie.’ ‘Lie’ implies much more than just saying something that’s false. It implies a deliberate intent to mislead,” he said. Baker took some heat for that statement in some more progressive parts of the press, but his distinction is real and important. ||||| A rehearsal for the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump take place at the US Capitol in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/SAUL LOEB) 
 
 Washington (AFP) - The inauguration of Donald Trump as America's 45th president is the highlight of several days of pomp and circumstance in the US capital. Here's a look at the timeline of events. 
 
 Thursday, January 19 
 
 10:35 am - Performances begin at Lincoln Memorial. "Voices of the People," the first act of a day-long public concert, will feature groups such as the DC Fire Department Emerald Society Pipes and Drums, the Republican Hindu Coalition, high school marching bands, choirs and baton twirlers. 
 
 3:30 pm to 4 pm - Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in honor of the nation's veterans. 
 
 4 pm to 6 pm - Trump will deliver remarks during the second act of the concert at Lincoln Memorial, dubbed the "Make America Great Again! Welcome Celebration." The event, broadcast live nationally, will be headlined by country stars Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood and feature a fireworks finale. 
 
 Trump is expected to spend Thursday night at Blair House, the presidential guest residence across the street from the White House. 
 
 Friday, January 20 
 
 Morning - Trump, Pence and their families are expected to attend services at St. John's Episcopal Church, just steps from the White House. 
 
 Afterward, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama welcome Trump and his wife Melania to the White House for morning tea. The two couples will then travel together to the Capitol by motorcade. 
 
 9:30 am - Inauguration ceremony begins on the west front of the Capitol with musical performances. 
 
 Attendees will include members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, diplomats and the public. Former presidents Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton will attend, as will Trump's election opponent Hillary Clinton. 
 
 Former president George H.W. Bush is in frail health and will not be present. 
 
 Sixteen-year-old soprano Jackie Evancho will sing the national anthem. The Rockettes dance troupe will also be performing, at a time yet to be announced. 
 
 11:30 am - Opening remarks. Religious leaders will offer the invocation and readings. 
 
 Pence will be sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. 
 
 Noon - Trump will recite the oath of office, administered by US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. He will use president Abraham Lincoln's inauguration Bible, as well as the Bible that Trump's mother gave to him at his Sunday school graduation in 1955. Afterward, Trump will deliver his inaugural address. 
 
 12:30 Ceremony ends. 
 
 Afterward, in keeping with tradition, Trump and Pence will attend the Congressional Lunch in the Capitol. 
 
 3 pm to 5 pm - Inaugural parade. The newly minted president and vice-president make their way 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House, trailed by some 8,000 parade participants. They will include members of all US military branches, as well as high school and university marching bands, equestrian corps, first responders, veteran groups and even a tractor brigade. 
 
 7 pm to 11 pm - Trump, Pence and their wives will make appearances at three official inaugural balls, two of which will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and the other at the National Building Museum. A number of semi-official and unofficial balls also will take place throughout the city. 
 
 Saturday, Jan 21 
 
 10 am to 11 am - Trump and Pence attend the interfaith National Prayer Service, held at the Washington National Cathedral. ||||| Even before his inauguration, Donald Trump has notched up at least one dubious achievement: He’ll be the first modern president to enter the White House without a honeymoon. 
 
 Most Americans give new presidents the benefit of the doubt. In 2001, for example, a solid majority rallied behind George W. Bush despite the fact that he lost the popular vote. 
 
 Not Trump. On Tuesday, a CNN poll found that only 40% of Americans think he’s done a good job as president-elect — well below the 61% who backed Bush in 2001, and far below the 84% who approved of Barack Obama in 2009. 
 
 Indeed, the new poll showed that Trump has actually lost ground during his transition, normally a time when a new president’s stature improves. In November, CNN reported, 46% of the public thought Trump was doing a good job; some of those supporters have already drifted away. 
 
 We are already seeing Trump struggle between two instincts: the yearning to unite all Americans behind him, and the urge to attack every critic. 
 
 Trump’s reaction to the survey, and others with similar results, was predictable. The polls “are rigged just like before,” he tweeted. 
 
 But the erosion of his support was predictable too. Trump’s standing bounced up at first, after he promised on election night to “bind the wounds of division,” and after he helped negotiate a deal saving some 800 jobs at an Indiana manufacturing plant. 
 
 Since then, the president-elect has reverted to the truculent style of his campaign, tweeting complaints at critics from John Lewis to Meryl Streep. The news about his transition has focused on the controversy over his chumminess toward Russia’s Vladimir Putin, not his promises to create jobs. 
 
 That makes Trump’s inaugural address on Friday an event with unusually high political stakes. It’s not only an opportunity for the new president to set out his goals in office; it’s also a chance to appeal to skeptical voters — and to renew the unifying tone of his election night remarks. 
 
 There are signs that Trump wants to do just that. “His instruction to me was: The campaign is over. I am now president for all the people,” inaugural chair Tom Barrack told reporters. “I want you to build a bridge and tie them back in. I want to heal the wounds and I want to get back to work.” 
 
 And a few weeks ago, Trump told historian Douglas Brinkley that he was studying the inaugural speeches of John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Richard M. Nixon to prepare. 
 
 The Kennedy and Reagan speeches are acknowledged as classics. But Nixon? 
 
 Actually, Nixon’s 1969 speech is the one most likely to be useful to Trump, because Nixon’s circumstances were most similar to his. 
 
 Nixon won a three-way race with only 43% of the popular vote (less than Trump’s 46%), and was seeking to lead a country bitterly divided over racial tension and the Vietnam War. He decided that what the country wanted was fellowship, not division, and on Inauguration Day in 1969, he delivered a speech that was both generous and graceful — words not often attached to the 37th president. 
 
 “When we listen to the better angels of our nature, we find that they celebrate the simple things, the basic things, such as goodness, decency, love, kindness,” Nixon said that day. “To lower our voices would be a simple thing. In these difficult years, America has suffered from a fever of words; from inflated rhetoric that promises more than it can deliver; from angry rhetoric that fans discontents into hatreds; from bombastic rhetoric that postures instead of persuading. We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another.” 
 
 The speech, and Nixon’s early efforts to govern from the center, launched his presidency on a wave of relative good feelings, according to John A. Farrell, author of a forthcoming biography, “Nixon: The Life.” 
 
 “He made a serious attempt to cast himself as a unifier,” Farrell told me. “It did bring him a honeymoon.” 
 
 That was all the more striking because Nixon, like Trump, had always been a brawler. 
 
 “Nixon spent his entire career as a champion of the politics of grievance, and aimed it at working-class and middle-class Americans — the people he called the forgotten man,” Farrell said. “There’s at least a distant parallel with Trump there.” 
 
 If Trump follows Nixon’s example, he may sound like a new man on Friday, a president bent on reinstalling a measure of civility in public life. 
 
 Even so, that New Trump may not last. The New Nixon didn’t. 
 
 “The Vietnam War got in the way,” Farrell said. “Nixon couldn’t resist going after his enemies. The Old Nixon came back.” 
 
 We are already seeing Trump struggle between two instincts: the yearning to unite all Americans behind him, and the urge to attack every critic. That battle won’t be resolved on Inauguration Day, no matter what tone he strikes. 
 
 doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com 
 
 Twitter: @DoyleMcManus 
 
 Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
– The US begins its journey into uncharted territory Friday when Donald Trump takes political office for the first time in his life—starting at the top. He will deliver his inaugural address at 11:51am, according to the AP's timeline, and analysts say it will be one of the most closely watched in history. Advisers say that, like many predecessors, Trump will issue a call for unity and give his vision of "one America." Experts tell NBC News that Trump's unique and repetitive speaking style will drive the message home and maybe even go a little way toward unifying America. "If I keep saying it, it becomes it," says New York University neuroscience professor David Poeppel. In other coverage: The Los Angeles Times reports that Trump has said he looked to the speeches of Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and Richard Nixon to prepare—and of the three, Nixon might be most relevant. After winning with a minority of the popular vote in the deeply divisive 1968 election, Nixon called on the "better angels of our nature" in his inaugural address, saying America had heard too much inflated and bombastic rhetoric. "We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another," he said. The San Francisco Chronicle lists five things to look for in Trump's address, including efforts to reassure foreign leaders. Ad-libs are also a strong possibility, though analysts say trying to wing it could be a big mistake. The speech was largely written by incoming senior White House adviser Stephen Miller, Politico reports in its guide to inaugural events, which includes viewing tips and the order of the ceremony. The Washington Post looks at the many demonstrations that will be taking place across the capital on Friday, including a few pro-Trump events, as well as numerous "counterinaugural" protests. The "Let America Hear Us, Roar for Trump" group will be sharing Dupont Circle with a pro-marijuana group that plans to hand out 4,200 joints. Time takes a look back at every Inauguration Day in US history, and at what every president had to say on the occasion. The Times of London reports on the "security nightmare" posed by Trump's first ride in the presidential limousine, which will take him past tens of thousands of people between the Capitol and the White House. Many will be watching to see whether he chooses to walk part of the way as predecessors including Obama did. The New York Times speaks to five Trump voters from very different backgrounds to find out why they traveled to DC for the inauguration. Protests are taking place in cities across the world, but in Melania Trump's hometown in Slovenia, they're getting ready for a huge party, TMZ reports. The Atlantic reports that there will apparently be no poetry on the agenda, which is more a sign of the partisan divide than a break with tradition.