Trump Says ‘America’s Decline is Over’ as He Returns to Office

President Trump took the oath of office for the second time and was sworn in as the 47th president. He laid out a sweeping agenda and declared that the country’s golden age “begins now.”

 

[ABS News Service/21.01.2025]

Trump is attending a series of events after being sworn in. Here’s what to know.

Donald John Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday, reinvigorated for another term aimed at remaking America in his vision four years after he was ousted from the White House.

“The golden age of America begins right now,” Mr. Trump declared as he began a 29-minute Inaugural Address, shortly after he and Vice President JD Vance took their oaths in the Capitol Rotunda. He added: “My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all these many betrayals that have taken place and give people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and indeed their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”

The address, which painted a grim portrait of a country on its knees that only he can revive, largely dispensed with lofty themes and the broad unifying strokes favored by most presidents in their Inaugural Addresses. Instead, it outlined a series of often-divisive policies, ranging from deploying the military to the southern border to renaming the Gulf of Mexico and seizing the Panama Canal.

The day’s schedule was packed with traditional events — there was a White House meeting with President Biden in the morning and celebratory balls set for the evening — but also changes. Mr. Trump gave a second, more pointedly political speech in another hall inside the Capitol after his formal address in the Rotunda. In it, he raised familiar grievances and repeated the falsehood of a “totally rigged” 2020 election; those claims led his supporters to attack the building on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I think this was a better speech than the one I made upstairs,” he said.

Mr. Trump also visited the Capital One Arena in Washington, where supporters deprived of an outdoor ceremony had watched his swearing-in on video screens while jeering Mr. Trump’s political opponents.

·         The guest list: The inauguration was attended by tech billionaires, foreign dignitaries including hard-right European leaders, former presidents and an assortment of performers and other celebrities. But because Mr. Trump decided to move the event indoors, many V.I.P.s were relegated to an overflow room. Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor who was disbarred over his lies about the 2020 election, had a seat in the Rotunda. Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, did not.

·         A historic start: Mr. Trump, 78, became the oldest person ever inaugurated as president, eclipsing President Biden, who was five months younger when he took the oath four years ago. Mr. Vance, 40, by contrast, has become the third-youngest vice president in history.