Following the recent inauguration, government officials are more in the limelight than ever. And with this, comes an interesting mix of professional society, and social media. Take Inauguration fashion as an example.

On nearly every platform of social media that I opened within the days following the inauguration, the first thing to pop up was the different outfits various officials wore. 

I spent ten minutes reading about First Lady Jill Biden sporting a beautiful baby blue Markarian look, only to skip over to Twitter and hear of former First Lady  Michelle Obama looking ethereal in dark purple.

And while I won’t lie—I did thoroughly enjoy learning about the meaning and making behind the monochromatic looks—I questioned myself afterwards. 

It went something along the lines of “Livia, did you really just spend 20 minutes learning about inauguration fashion instead of learning about the actual inauguration?” Needless to say I was slightly disappointed in myself. 

But within this disappointment for myself I felt a stronger confusion as to why these articles existed in the first place. Pray tell me why an article explaining the designer picks for each popular member of the presidential family came before an article depicting every executive order President Joe Biden signed off on within his first 24 hours as president. Something doesn’t quite add up there logically. 

And it’s not just news articles on presidential fashion that shine a celebrity status over government officials. In the week following the Inauguration, my TikTok for you page was filled with makeshift skits depicting the daily lives of the Trump and Biden families. 

And while a detailed account of what teenagers think the White House group chat talks about was, similarly to Inauguration fashion, extremely interesting, it turned an honorable part of American history into the next American sitcom. 

So the question is, is this evolution from president to celebrity simply the next step in disregarding the power of the presidency, or is it just the newest outlet for American romanticism? Until I figure it out, I think I’ll take the safe route and take my TikToks with a side of daily news.