Washington President Donald Trump’s bare-knuckled inaugural address on Monday mimicked the themes and grievances of his signature rally speeches, declaring that the “golden age of America begins right now” and vowing that his MAGA movement will “annihilate” the nation’s issues.
After taking the oath of office as America’s 47th president, Trump talked for almost 40 minutes in the Capitol Rotunda in a comparatively calm and concentrated manner.
Trump became one of just two men to lose the presidency and then win it back, along with Grover Cleveland. Due to Washington’s below-freezing conditions, he took the oath of office and gave his inaugural address indoors.
At a rally in Pennsylvania this summer, he talked from the viewpoint of a guy on a mission of destiny who had just survived a bullet that would have killed him.
Trump stated that he wants to be a peacemaker and unifier and that he was redeemed by God to restore America to its former glory.
Trump’s allies claim that after four years in office and four years of trying to make a comeback, he has a far better sense of how to use the levers of power than he had when he was initially sworn in in 2017.
The first statements of Trump’s second presidency indicated that he plans to push the boundaries of presidential power by vigorously pursuing his agenda, which was accompanied by a broad series of executive orders he planned to publish on Monday. However, Trump has raised the bar by making a lot of promises that would be difficult to keep.
“I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” Trump stated. “All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”
During his first term, Trump attempted to utilize military funds to construct a wall along the border, but the federal courts blocked this maneuver.
Trump has promised to rename the Gulf of Mexico and brand Mexican drug gangs foreign terrorist organizations.
He pledged to reverse Biden-era initiatives intended to slow climate change, encourage drilling for fossil fuels, and declare a national energy emergency in order to partially curb inflation.
About 500 people made up the small group inside the Rotunda, which included business titans like Elon Musk, the creator of SpaceX who donated millions of dollars to help elect Trump and is now a major advisor to the president. Trump then gave his new advisor a nod.
“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars by launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” Trump stated. “Yeah!” exclaimed Musk, the world’s richest billionaire, beaming and raising two thumbs.
With his sights set on the Panama Canal, he also promised to expand his territory closer to home.
Saying, “We didn’t give it to China,” “We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
Trump also addressed the nine justices of the Supreme Court, his family, members of Congress, and the other four sitting presidents: Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
After Trump missed Biden’s swearing-in four years prior, Biden’s attendance restored the custom of the outgoing president attending the inauguration of his successor. Reviving a tradition that was neglected four years ago, Biden and departing First Lady Jill Biden welcomed Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to the White House for tea earlier in the day. Additionally, as Biden and departing Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Rotunda on Monday, Trump family members cheered them on in a show of reciprocal comity.
But as Trump presented himself as the rescuer of a nation in decline, the previous presidents were rarely cheered.
“In the United States of America, as we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust,” he stated. “For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.”
Trump reaffirmed his belief that his four criminal indictments and convictions on one set of charges were the consequence of persecution by the outgoing president rather than his own actions on the same day that Biden pardoned a number of his own family members, politicians, and former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci.
According to Trump, “the scales of justice will be rebalanced,” “The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.”
Due to a slight delay in Monday’s program, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh swore in former Ohio Senator JD Vance as vice president at noon, which is when the president is supposed to take the oath. With his wife, Usha Vance, standing by him, he raised his right hand and held his small daughter until the child indicated it was time to drop back to the ground. Vance put his right hand on the Bible that one of their sons was holding.
Then, with his wife and kids by his side, Chief Justice John Roberts gave Trump the oath. After finishing, Trump grinned widely, gestured to Roberts, and quickly shook hands with Biden.