— The 47th president took the oath of office to “preserve, protect, and defend” the U.S. Constitution
— Trump promises a series of immediate measures on immigration and the American culture wars
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump vowed to usher in a new era of American greatness, minutes after being sworn in as president for the second time, completing an extraordinary political comeback after two assassination attempts, a felony conviction and an indictment for having tried to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat.
“America’s golden age begins now,” he said.
Trump took the oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution inside the U.S. Capitol, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. His vice-president, JD Vance, was sworn in just before him.
Trump intends to sign a series of executive actions in his first hours as president, new White House officials said Monday, 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 requiring asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their U.S. court dates, officials told reporters .
He will also seek to end so-called birthright citizenship for children born in the United States whose parents do not have legal status, a measure that some legal experts say is unconstitutional.
The inauguration completes a triumphant return for a political disruptor who survived two impeachment trials, a felony conviction, two assassination attempts and an indictment for trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
The ceremony was moved inside the Capitol due to extreme cold, four years after a mob of Trump supporters breached the building, a symbol of American democracy, in a failed attempt to prevent Trump’s defeat. Trump versus Joe Biden.
Biden and outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, were present inside the Capitol rotunda, alongside former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, arrived with her husband Bill, but Obama’s wife, Michelle, chose not to attend.
Many of the tech executives who have sought to curry favor with the new administration — including the world’s three richest men, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, and Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta – occupied prominent seats on stage, next to the cabinet candidates. and members of the Trump family.
Trump, the first US president since the 19th century to win a second term after losing the White House, said he would pardon “on day one” many of the more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the attack on January 6, 2021. He did not attend Biden’s inauguration and continued to falsely claim that the 2020 election he lost to Biden was rigged.
Trump will reinstate the federal death penalty, which Biden had suspended, and require that official U.S. documents such as passports reflect citizens’ gender as assigned at birth, officials in the new administration told reporters.
They said he would also sign an executive order ending diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the federal government on Monday, which is also Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
But Trump will not immediately impose new tariffs on Monday, but will instead direct federal agencies to evaluate trade relations with Canada, China and Mexico, a Trump official confirmed, an unexpected development that triggered a large drop in the US dollar and a rally in global stock markets. a day when American financial markets are closed.
Even as he prepared to return to office, Trump continued to expand his business operations, raising billions in market value by launching a “meme coin” crypto token over the weekend, sparking ethical questions and regulatory.
