Donald Trump, America’s past and present commander-in-chief, was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, an unprecedented return to power for a former president who was ousted from office four years ago amid a raging pandemic, following two impeachments and an attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters. Trump, 78, becomes the oldest person ever to be sworn in as president, and the first president since Grover Cleveland to serve non-consecutive terms in the White House.
Trump, who is also the first convicted felon to be elected president, will now begin serving his second and final term in office after defeating former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. He will serve as president through Jan. 20, 2029.
What happened at the inauguration?
For the first time since Ronald Reagan’s swearing-in in 1985, the inauguration took place indoors due to cold temperatures in Washington, D.C., held in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda. The inauguration was attended by outgoing President Joe Biden, as well as former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. All former first ladies also attended the ceremony except for Michelle Obama. Many of the world’s wealthiest individuals were also in attendance, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Tesla founder and Trump confidante Elon Musk and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
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Vice President J.D. Vance took his oath of office first, administered by Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, while Trump took his oath at 12:02 p.m. ET, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. The national anthem was performed by tenor Christopher Macchio. Minutes after taking office, Trump reportedly sent a text message to supporters stating, “I AM THE PRESIDENT NOW!” and announcing a “24-hour presidential fundraising blitz,” according to CNN.
What did Trump say in his inaugural address?
Trump declared that the United States needs a “revolution of common sense,” but also that the “golden age of America begins right now.” Under his leadership, the U.S. “would be respected again all over the world,” the president said during his address, and he said he was “saved by God” from his July 2024 assassination attempt to lead the country.
The president will “put America first” during “every single day of the Trump administration,” Trump said. He also took aim at large swaths of the federal government, most notably the U.S. Department of Justice. The “scales of justice will be rebalanced,” and the “vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.”
The president often used large, sweeping comparisons that have become a hallmark of his vocabulary. We are “at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world,” Trump said.
The U.S. “can no longer deliver basic services,” Trump said, though he noted that “some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country” are “sitting here right now.” The president also cited executive orders he planned to sign, and said he would “declare a national emergency at our southern border” and halt all illegal immigration.
Trump said he would “direct all members of my Cabinet” to use the “vast powers at their disposal” to bring down inflation. The U.S. will also “end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life,” Trump said. He also pledged to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and change the name of Alaska’s Mt. Denali back to Mt. McKinley.
The speech itself was a “lot more specific than you usually hear in an inaugural address,” as Trump “avoided the lofty themes and language you normally hear in these speeches, and instead went through a detailed roster of his priorities,” said CNN’s Kevin Liptak. However, “many of the things Trump is calling for are not supported by all Americans,” said NPR, as the outlet’s latest poll “found Americans split evenly on deportations and think tariffs will hurt the economy more than help it.”
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