By David Morgan, Gabriella Porter, Bo Erickson, and Joseph Ax
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump vowed to save America from what he described as years of betrayal and decline after he was sworn in as president on Monday, prioritizing a crackdown on illegal immigration and portraying himself as God's chosen national savior.
“For American citizens, January 20, 2025 is Liberation Day,” Trump (78 years old) said inside the rotunda of the US Capitol Building, a symbol of American democracy that was overrun by crowds of Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. Unlike his defeat in the 2020 elections to Joe Biden.
The half-hour speech echoed some of the themes he raised at his first inauguration in 2017, when he spoke of the “American carnage” of crime and job losses that he said had devastated the country.
The inauguration completes a triumphant return for the political filibuster who has been impeached twice, survived two assassination attempts, was convicted in a criminal trial and faced charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. He is the first president in more than a century to win a second term after losing the White House.
“God saved me to make America great again,” Trump said, referring to the assassin's bullet that struck his ear in July.
Trump is the first criminal to assume the office of president after a New York jury convicted him of falsifying business records to cover up money paid to a porn star.
“Many people thought it was impossible for me to make such a historic political comeback,” he said. “I stand before you now as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do in America. Impossible is what we do best.”
While Trump has sought to portray himself as a peacemaker and unifier, his rhetoric has often been sharply partisan. He repeated false claims from his campaign that other countries were emptying their prisons in America, and expressed familiar, unfounded grievances about his criminal trials.
With Biden sitting nearby, smiling politely, Trump issued a scathing indictment of his predecessor's policies from immigration to foreign affairs and outlined a raft of executive actions aimed at blocking border crossings, ending federal diversity programs and reforming international trade.
“First, I will declare a national emergency on our southern border,” he said. “All illegal entries will be stopped immediately, and we will begin the process of returning millions upon millions of criminal aliens to the places from which they came.”
Several tech executives have sought to curry favor with the incoming administration — including the world's three richest men, Tesla (NASDAQ:) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon (NASDAQ:) CEO Jeff Bezos, and… Meta (NASDAQ:) Mark Zuckerberg – had prominent seats on the stage, alongside Cabinet nominees and Trump family members.
Trump said he would send astronauts to plant the American flag on Mars, prompting Musk – who has long talked about colonizing the planet – to raise his hands in celebration.
Trump pledged to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to America's Gulf and reiterated his intention to regain control of the Panama Canal, one of several foreign policy statements that sparked consternation among US allies.
A triumphant return
After his speech, Trump stopped by the Capitol Visitor Center and gave a longer informal speech to supporters reminiscent of his freewheeling rallies.
In subsequent statements, Trump struck a very different tone, expressing doubts about electoral processes, calling people accused of participating in the January 6, 2021, attack “hostages,” and suggesting that the congressional investigation into his actions that day was illegal.
“I think that was a better speech than the one I gave upstairs,” Trump said.
Trump took the oath to “preserve, protect and defend” the US Constitution at 12:01 pm ET (1701 GMT), with Chief Justice John Roberts presiding. Vice President J.D. Vance was sworn in directly before him.
Outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, was sitting next to Biden in a section with 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.
The ceremony was moved indoors due to the extreme cold sweeping most parts of the country.
Trump skipped Biden's inauguration and continues to falsely claim that the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden, was rigged.
Biden, in one of his final official acts, pardoned several people whom Trump had threatened with retaliation, including former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, former Republican US Rep. Liz Cheney, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley. He also pardoned five family members just minutes before leaving office, citing concerns that Trump would target them.
Trump acknowledged that he would take office on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and said he would work to respect the civil rights leader's legacy. At the same time, he said he would issue orders to eliminate federal diversity programs and ask the government to recognize only the sexes assigned at birth.
“As of today, the official policy of the United States government from now on will be that there are only two sexes, male and female,” Trump said, while Democratic US Representative Sarah McBride, the first transgender person to serve in Congress, smiled calmly. In the audience.
Trump will not impose new tariffs immediately and will instead direct federal agencies to evaluate trade relations with Canada, China and Mexico, a Trump official said, an unexpected development that unleashed a broad decline in the US dollar and a rally in global stock markets in a single day. When US financial markets were closed.
Some executive orders are likely to face legal challenges.
Disruptive force
As he did in 2017, Trump entered office as a disruptive force, vowing to reshape the federal government and expressing deep doubts about the US-led alliances that shaped global politics after World War II.
Police separated a group of 40 supporters of the far-right group “Proud Boys”, supporters of Trump, whose former leader Enrique Tarrio was among those imprisoned on January 6, and dozens of opposition demonstrators in the center of the capital.
“From the streets? Our streets,” the Proud Boys chanted as several protesters pointed megaphones at them with sirens blaring. Each side shouted obscenities at the other.
He returns to Washington emboldened after winning the national popular vote over Harris by more than 2 million votes thanks to a wave of voter frustration over persistent inflation, though still just short of a 50% majority.
Trump, who has surpassed Biden as the oldest president ever to be sworn in, will enjoy a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress. His advisers have outlined plans to replace nonpartisan bureaucrats with carefully selected loyalists.
Trump's influence was already being felt in last week's announcement by Israel and Hamas of a ceasefire agreement. Trump, whose envoy joined the negotiations in Qatar, warned of “paying a heavy price” if Hamas did not release its hostages before the inauguration.
Unlike in 2017, when he held many of the top positions with institutionalists, Trump prioritized loyalty over experience in nominating a group of controversial Cabinet picks, some of them outspoken critics of the agencies they were appointed to lead.
Even as he prepared to reclaim office, Trump continued to expand his business ventures, amassing billions in market capitalization by launching a “meme coin” cryptocurrency that raised ethical and regulatory questions.
The inauguration ceremony took place amid tight security measures after a campaign that highlighted increasing political violence.
The traditional parade on Pennsylvania Avenue next to the White House has been moved indoors Capital One (NYSE:) arena, where Trump held his victory rally on Sunday.
