WASHINGTON: Donald Trump pronounced the start of a “golden age” in the United States after taking the oath for a historic second term as president on Monday, using his inaugural speech to lash out at what he described as a “broken” society that he would rescue.
“The golden age of America begins right now. From this day forward our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world,” Trump said in the US Capitol, where his inauguration was held indoors due to chilly weather. He took the oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution at 12:01 p.m. ET (1701 GMT) inside the U.S. Capitol, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. His vice president, JD Vance, was sworn in just before him.
While promising renewal, Trump’s tone was characteristically dark, denouncing what he said had been a “betrayal” of Americans by a “radical and corrupt establishment.” “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 said. “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.” Trump said that he was “saved by God to make America great again.
The Republican -- at 78 now the oldest person ever to take the presidential oath -- was set to kickstart his new term with a blitz of immediate orders on immigration and the US culture wars.
“I will declare a national emergency at our southern border” with Mexico, Trump said to loud cheers from supporters inside the ornate Rotunda hall, vowing to deport “millions and millions” of illegal immigrants.
Trump took the oath with one hand raised in the air, using a Bible given to him by his mother, and became the 47th president. He had travelled to the Capitol with outgoing Democratic president Joe Biden, who followed tradition by offering his successor tea at the White House. “Welcome home,” Biden had said to Trump as he and First Lady Jill Biden greeted the incoming president and his wife Melania at the White House.
Trump was a political outsider at his first inauguration in 2017 as the 45th president, but this time around he is surrounded by America’s wealthy and powerful. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all had prime seats in the Capitol alongside Trump’s family and cabinet members.
Musk, who bankrolled Trump’s election campaign to the tune of a quarter of a billion dollars and promotes far-right policies on the X social network, will lead a cost-cutting drive in the new administration. While Trump refused to attend Biden’s 2021 inauguration after falsely claiming electoral fraud, this time Biden has been keen to restore the sense of tradition. Biden joined former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton at the Capitol. Former first ladies Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush were there but ex-first lady Michelle Obama pointedly stayed away.
Unusually for an inauguration where foreign leaders are normally not invited, Argentina’s hard-right president Javier Milei was attending, along with Italy’s far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The bitter cold weather has forced Trump’s inauguration indoors for the first time since Ronald Reagan’s in 1985, missing out on the customary massive crowds along the National Mall.
Behind the pomp and ceremony, the billionaire is kickstarting his nationalist, right-wing agenda with a barrage of around 100 executive orders undoing Biden’s legacy. Trump will give the US military a key role on the frontier, and end birthright citizenship, as he seeks to clamp down on undocumented migrants, an official from his incoming administration said. He will also sign an order for the US government to recognize only two biological sexes. Trump will restore the federal death penalty, which Biden had suspended, incoming administration officials told reporters. They said he will also sign an order ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government on Monday, which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday in memory of America’s most famous civil rights leader. Some of the executive orders are likely to face legal challenges. Even as he prepared to retake office, Trump continued to expand his business ventures, raising billions in market value by launching a “meme coin” crypto token over the weekend that prompted ethical and regulatory questions
For the rest of the world, Trump’s return means expecting the unexpected. From promising sweeping tariffs to making territorial threats to Greenland and Panama and calling US aid for Ukraine into question, Trump looks set to rattle the global order once again and impose tariffs on the biggest U.S. trading partners.
But Trump will not immediately impose new tariffs on Monday, instead directing federal agencies to evaluate trade relationships with Canada, China and Mexico, a Trump official said, an unexpected development that unleashed a broad slide in the U.S. dollar and a rally in global stock markets on a day when U.S. financial markets are closed.
His influence has already been felt in the Israel-Hamas announcement last week of a ceasefire deal. Trump, whose envoy joined the negotiations in Qatar, had warned of “hell to pay” if Hamas did not release its hostages before the inauguration. Unlike in 2017, when he filled many top jobs with institutionalists, Trump has prioritized fealty over experience in nominating a bevvy of controversial cabinet picks, some of whom are outspoken critics of the agencies they have been tapped to lead.
Biden said he had also restored the tradition of leaving a letter for his successor -- though he said the contents were between him and Trump. Trump is just the second president in US history to return to power after being voted out, after Grover Cleveland in 1893. Another notable factor is Trump’s criminal record, related to paying a porn star hush money during his first presidential run -- and a string of far more serious criminal probes that were dropped once he won the election in November.
The traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House will now take place indoors at the Capital One Arena, where Trump held his victory rally on Sunday. Trump will also attend three inaugural balls in the evening. Some diehard Trump followers slept in the street in frigid conditions to make sure they were in line to get a seat at the arena. A desk and chair sat on the stage, where Trump was expected to sign some of his first executive orders in front of his supporters before heading to the White House.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to talks on the Ukraine conflict with Donald Trump´s incoming US administration, adding he hoped any settlement would ensure “lasting peace”.
“We are also open to dialogue with the new US administration on the Ukrainian conflict,” Putin said in televised remarks, congratulating the Republican on his upcoming inauguration.
In a related development, President Asif Ali Zardari also congratulated Donald Trump on assuming office. According to an announcement from the President’s Secretariat, President Asif Ali Zardari extended his best wishes to the new US President.
In a separate message Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on his official X timeline wrote: “My warmest congratulations to Donald Trump on his assumption of office as the forty-seventh President of the United States of America. I look forward to working with him to strengthen the enduring Pakistan-US partnership.” He said over the years, both the two great countries had worked together closely to pursue peace and prosperity in the region and beyond for their people, adding, “and we shall continue to do so in the future. “He extended his best wishes to President Trump for a successful second term in office.
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