Donald Trump vowed a new US "golden age" as he took the oath for a historic second presidential term Monday, January 20, but focused most of his dark inaugural speech on touting hardline policies to reverse what he called "American decline."
In an often divisive address, the 47th president took aim at illegal immigration and the culture wars as he capped the most remarkable comeback in US political history.
"The golden age of America begins right now. From this day forward our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world," Trump said in the US Capitol, where his inauguration was held indoors for the first time in decades due to freezing weather.
The Republican also referenced the assassin's bullet that grazed him at a rally during his victorious election campaign, saying: "I was saved by God to make America great again."
While promising renewal, Trump harshly denounced what he said had been a "betrayal" of Americans by a "radical and corrupt establishment" under outgoing President Joe Biden: "For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair," he said. "From this moment on, America's decline is over."
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Biden watched stony-faced as his political nemesis read the last rites over his single term in office. While Trump refused to attend Biden's 2021 inauguration after falsely claiming electoral fraud and inspiring a violent assault by supporters on the Capitol, this time Biden was keen to restore the sense of tradition. "Welcome home," Biden had said to Trump when he arrived for tea at the White House.
Trump also set out his foreign policy stall, saying he wanted to be a "peacemaker and a unifier" – but then saying the United States was "taking back" the Panama Canal and warning he would make liberal use of trade wars. He also vowed to "plant the Stars and Stripes" on the planet Mars.
The Republican – at 78 now the oldest person ever to take the presidential oath – was set to kickstart his new term with a blitz of immediate orders on immigration and the US culture wars.
"I will declare a national emergency at our southern border" with Mexico, Trump said to loud cheers inside the ornate Rotunda hall, vowing to deport "millions and millions" of illegal immigrants.
Trump also said his government would recognize "only two genders, male and female," ending the current practice of providing a third gender option in some settings.
He will also pull Washington out of the Paris climate accord aimed at halting global warming.
The world's richest man Elon Musk, Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and Google CEO Sundar Pichai all had prime seats in the Capitol alongside Trump's family and cabinet members. Musk will lead a cost-cutting drive in the new administration.
Former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton all attended the ceremony with their spouses – except for ex-first lady Michelle Obama who pointedly stayed away.
Unusually for an inauguration where foreign leaders are normally not invited, Argentina's hard-right president Javier Milei was attending, along with Italy's far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Clusters of supporters watched the ceremony – normally viewed by thousands of people on the National Mall – on their phones outside the Capitol.
Biden pardons
In the waning minutes of his presidency Monday, Biden issued extraordinary pre-emptive pardons for his siblings and their spouses to shield them from "politically motivated investigations." He also pardoned former Covid-19 advisor Anthony Fauci, retired general Mark Milley, and members of a US House committee probing the violent January 6, 2021 US Capitol attack by Trump's supporters.
