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Your guide to what the 2024 US elections mean for Washington and the world
No one has ever accused Donald Trump of consistency. Shortly after being sworn in, he promised to bring peace to the world, reoccupy the Panama Canal and expand American territory. The latter seemed like a declaration of war, the first of its kind in the history of US inauguration speeches. The trick, as always with Trump, is to figure out what he means through rhetoric alone.
His picture of a new golden age was very different from 2017 when he spoke of “American carnage.” But this time his speech carried more specific actions, including regional aggression against America's neighbors, US troops on the Mexican border, the start of mass deportations of illegal immigrants, an end to subsidies for electric cars and a new era of “micro-drilling.” “This should be taken seriously.
The emotions that prevailed in the Capitol Rotunda also spoke volumes. It would be an exaggeration to say that Trump's second inauguration was unprecedented. Surrounded by the world's richest men, with a fortune reaching $1 trillion, headed by Elon Musk ($434 billion), Jeff Bezos ($240 billion), and Mark Zuckerberg ($212 billion), Trump's return has blessed the outgoing president. Joe Biden called the new oligarchy.
Never before has a billionaire president had such wealth. Trump has used his return to expand his own wealth. In the days leading up to the inauguration, he added billions to his fiat fortune by launching a coin he promptly named “$Trump.” His wife, Melania, followed suit with her own cryptocurrency offering. He also made a bid for the United States to take a 50 percent stake in TikTok, the Chinese-owned social media app whose ban was upheld by Congress last week by the Supreme Court. Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok, was also present.
The contradiction between Trump His predecessors, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Biden, signaled more of a regime change than a normal transfer of power. They listened in somewhat convincing amazement as Trump presented an agenda that would undo almost everything they stand for — whether Bush is a Republican or Biden is a Democrat. In the morning, Biden said to Trump, “Welcome home,” while receiving him at the White House. He also preemptively pardoned former government officials and members of his family from punishment, which Trump repeated in his speech. The ceremony was held in a room that was vandalized four years ago by Trump supporters, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen.
In addition to his promise to plant the stars and stripes on Mars, Trump said that God saved him from the assassin's bullet last July so that he could make America great again. After Trump finished his 2017 speech, Bush turned to the Clintons and said, “That was weird.” It is unclear whether Bush has any words to describe Trump's second inauguration on Monday.
