Trump pledges ‘golden age’ after returning to White House as 47th president

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Donald Trump heralded the start of a “golden age” in the United States after being sworn in for a historic second term as president on Monday, using his inaugural address to criticize what he described as a ” described as a “broken” society that he would save. .

“America’s golden age is just beginning. From this day forward our country will prosper and be respected once again around the world,” Trump said at the US Capitol. , where their inauguration ceremony was held indoors due to cold weather.

While promising renewal, Trump’s tone was characteristically dark, denouncing what he said was a “betrayal” of Americans by a “radical and corrupt establishment.”

“For years, a fundamentalist and corrupt establishment has taken power and wealth away from our citizens, while the pillars of our society are broken and seemingly completely disintegrating,” he said.

“From this moment on, America is in decline.”

The Republican — at 78 the oldest person ever to take the presidential oath — was set to begin his new term with urgent orders on immigration and the American culture wars.

“I will declare a national emergency on our southern border with Mexico,” Trump said to loud cheers from supporters inside the ornate Rotunda Hall, “millions and millions” of illegal immigrants. Determined to deport.

Trump raised one hand in the air and took the oath using a Bible given to him by his mother and became the 47th president.

He traveled to the Capitol with outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden, who followed tradition by serving tea to his successor in the White House.

“Welcome home,” Biden told Trump as he and first lady Jill Biden welcomed the incoming president and his wife Melania to the White House.

Trump was a political outsider when he was first sworn in as the 45th president in 2017, but this time he is surrounded by America’s rich and powerful.

The world’s richest man Elon Musk, meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all have prime seats in the Capitol, along with members of Trump’s family and cabinet.

Musk, who raised a quarter of a billion dollars for Trump’s campaign and promoted far-right policies on the X social network, will lead the cost-cutting drive in the new administration.

While Trump refused to attend Biden’s 2021 inauguration after falsely claiming election fraud, this time around Biden is looking to restore a 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 former first lady Michelle Obama conspicuously stayed away.

Executive Orders

Unusually for an inauguration ceremony where foreign leaders are not usually invited, Argentina’s hard-right president Javier Meli was attending along with Italy’s far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni.

Bitterly cold weather forced Trump’s inauguration indoors for the first time since Ronald Reagan in 1985, missing the traditional large crowds along the National Mall.

Behind the pomp and ceremony, the billionaire is launching his nationalist, right-wing agenda with nearly 100 executive orders to dismantle Biden’s legacy.

An official in his incoming administration said Trump would give the US military a key role at the border, and end birthright citizenship, as he seeks to deter undocumented immigrants.

‘excited’

At sunrise Monday, the National Mall, where the inauguration was scheduled to take place, was mostly empty — except for the Fairchild family, who had come from Michigan to pay their respects to Trump.

“Excited,” grandmother Barb said, when asked how she was feeling, adding that she thought the move indoors was “to protect our president.”

With minutes left in his presidency, Biden issued an extraordinary preemptive pardon to protect his brothers and sisters from “baseless and politically motivated investigations.”

He also pardoned former Covid-19 adviser Anthony Fauci, retired General Mark Milley, and members of the US House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

Biden said he had also revived the tradition of leaving a letter for his successor — though he said the content was between him and Trump.

Trump is the second president in US history to be returned to power after Grover Cleveland was voted out in 1893.

Another notable factor is Trump’s criminal record, which dates back to a hush-hush payment to a porn star during his first presidential run — and a series of far more serious criminal investigations since he won the election in November. was abandoned.

For the rest of the world, Trump’s return means expecting the unexpected.

From promising massive tariffs, to making Greenland and Panama a regional threat and questioning US aid to Ukraine, Trump looks set to shake up the world order once again.

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump ahead of the inauguration and said Monday that he was open to talks on the Ukraine conflict, and that he hoped any settlement would ensure “lasting peace.”