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.