Donald Trump was sworn in for a historic second term as president on Monday, promising a series of immediate orders on immigration and America’s culture wars as he wraps up his extraordinary comeback.
With one hand raised in the air and the other on a Bible his mother gave him, the 47th president of the United States solemnly took the oath of office under the massive rotunda of the United States Capitol.
Beginning his speech, Trump thanked his predecessors and Vice President Kamala Harris and said, “America’s golden age begins right now.”
He said America would flourish again and be respected around the world from now on.
Trump said the United States would now allow itself to be taken advantage of, saying: “During every day of the Trump administration, I will simply put America first.”
He said his government would “reclaim” US sovereignty, restore security and “rebalance” the scales of justice.
Trump said his “top priority” was creating a free, proud and prosperous nation. “America will soon be bigger, stronger and more exceptional than ever before.”
He said he returned to the presidency confident and optimistic that “we are at the beginning of an exciting new era of national success,” adding that “a tide of change is sweeping the country and sunlight is flooding the entire world and “America has the opportunity to seize this opportunity like never before.”
Trump said his administration faced “numerous” challenges, but they would be “wiped out by this great push that the world is now witnessing in the United States.”
Attacking, he said: “Our government faces a crisis of confidence. 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.”
He criticized the previous administration for failing to protect American citizens while “providing shelter and protection to dangerous criminals… who have entered our country illegally from around the world.”
“Good morning,” Trump said as he entered the Capitol earlier accompanied by former President Joe Biden. When asked how they felt, Biden responded: “Good.”
Trump will soon be sworn in as president of the United States, beginning another turbulent four-year term with promises to expand the limits of executive power, deport millions of immigrants, ensure retaliation against his political enemies and transform America’s role on the stage. world. .
Even before Trump takes office at noon ET (1700 GMT), his advisers detailed a series of executive actions he would sign immediately, including 10 focused on border security and immigration, his top priority.
The president will declare a national emergency at the southern border, send armed troops there and resume a policy that forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. court hearing dates, an incoming White House official told reporters. .
The inauguration completes a triumphant return for a political disruptor who survived two impeachments, a felony conviction, two assassination attempts and an indictment for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Shortly before 10 a.m. ET (1500 GMT), Trump and incoming first lady Melania Trump arrived at the White House, where Biden and first lady Jill Biden greeted them with handshakes.
“Welcome home,” Biden said.
The ceremony will take place inside the US Capitol Rotunda, four years after a mob of Trump supporters violated the symbol of American democracy in an unsuccessful effort to prevent Trump’s loss to Biden. For the first time in 40 years, the swearing-in was held indoors due to the extreme cold.
Trump, the first U.S. president since the 19th century to win a second term after losing the White House, has said he will pardon “on day one” many of the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the Sept. 6 attack. January 2021.
Biden, in one of his last official acts, pardoned several people Trump had targeted for retaliation, including former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, former Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney and former Chairman of the General Staff. Mark Milley set.
Trump will reinstate the federal death penalty, which Biden had suspended, and require that official U.S. documents, such as passports, reflect citizens’ gender assigned at birth, incoming administration officials told reporters.
He will also sign an order ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government on his first day, which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, officials said.
But Trump will not impose new tariffs today, instead ordering federal agencies to evaluate trade relations with China, Canada and Mexico, a Trump official confirmed.
“A tide of change is sweeping the country,” Trump plans to say in his inaugural address, according to excerpts seen by Reuters.
“With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense.”
The Trumps started the day at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, where they were joined by several technology executives, including the three richest men in the world, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Disruptive force
As he did in 2017, Trump enters office as a chaotic and disruptive force, vowing to remake the federal government and expressing deep skepticism about the U.S.-led alliances that have shaped post-World War II global politics.
The former president returns to Washington emboldened after winning the national popular vote over Vice President Kamala Harris by more than two million votes thanks to a wave of voter frustration over persistent inflation, although he still fell short of a 50 percent majority.
In 2016, Trump won the Electoral College (and the presidency) despite receiving nearly 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton.
Jeremi Suri, a presidential historian at the University of Texas at Austin, compared the current era to the late 19th century, when Grover Cleveland became the only other president to win non-consecutive terms.
Like now, he said, it was a time of upheaval, as industrial advances transformed the economy, wealth inequality soared and the share of American immigrants reached an all-time high.
“What we’re really talking about is a fundamentally different economy, a fundamentally different country in terms of its racial, gender and social makeup, and as a country we’re struggling to figure out what that means,” he said.
“It’s an existential moment.”
Trump, who will surpass Biden as the oldest president to take office, will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress, which have been almost completely purged of any dissenters within the party. His advisers have outlined plans to replace nonpartisan bureaucrats with carefully selected loyalists.
Even before taking office, Trump established a rival power center in the weeks after his election victory, meeting with world leaders and causing consternation by musing aloud about seizing the Panama Canal, controlling the territory of Greenland, Denmark, a NATO ally, and the imposition of tariffs on the largest American power. business partners.
Its influence has already been felt in last week’s announcement between Israel and Hamas of a ceasefire agreement. Trump, whose envoy joined the negotiations in Qatar, had warned that “there would be hell” if Hamas did not release its hostages before the inauguration.
Unlike 2017, when he filled many top posts with institutionalists, Trump has prioritized loyalty over experience by nominating a group of controversial Cabinet members, some of whom are outspoken critics of the agencies they have been appointed to lead.
The inauguration will take place amid tight security after a campaign marked by increased political violence that included two assassination attempts on Trump, including one in which a bullet grazed his ear.
‘American carnage’
Eight years ago, Trump gave a somber inaugural address in which he promised to end the “American carnage” of what he said were crime-ridden cities and soft borders, a departure from the tone of optimism most presidents have adopted. newly elected.
Foreign governments will scrutinize the tenor of Trump’s speech after he ran a campaign rife with inflammatory rhetoric.
The traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House will now take place inside the Capital One Arena, where Trump held his victory rally on Sunday. Trump will also attend three inaugural balls in the evening.
Amid the day’s pageantry, Trump will begin signing his first executive orders, many of which will likely face legal challenges.
Trump will be the first criminal to occupy the White House after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to cover up money paid to a porn star to maintain his silence.
Winning the election also cleared Trump of two federal indictments (for conspiring to overturn the 2020 election and for withholding classified documents) thanks to a Justice Department policy that presidents cannot be prosecuted while in office.
In a report last week, special prosecutor Jack Smith said he had enough evidence to convict Trump in the election case if Trump had gone to trial.
