Donald Trump returns to office, celebrates inauguration as 47th president

“The golden age of America begins right now,” he said beginning his second Inaugural Address.

Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States of America on Monday, Jan. 20, in a ceremony at the U.S. Capitol.

He enters office as the first president to serve non-consecutive terms since Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd and 24th president in the late 19th Century. 

Trump returns to office with a different vice president as JD Vance, the first-term senator from Ohio, was also sworn in at the Capitol.

Beginning the remarks of his second inaugural address, Trump said, “The golden age of America begins right now.”

Trump’s speech touched on many of the topics highlighted throughout his 2024 campaign, such as immigration and border security, high costs of energy and groceries, tariffs on imported goods, rolling back rights for transgender Americans, and criticism of the Biden administration.

The oft-divisive president said he wants his legacy to be one of a “peacemaker and unifier.”

The roughly 30-minute speech was delivered inside the U.S. Capitol, with outdoor festivities canceled due to the weather.  

Trump also discussed plans for a wave of executive actions, including aims to end birthright citizenship, setting up a battle with the courts over the interpretation of the 14th Amendment, which guarantees citizenship to all people born in the United States. 

Other executive actions planned also focused on immigration, including declaring a national emergency at the southern border, designating criminal cartels as terrorists, and reinstating his “Remain in Mexico” policy. 

At the speech, the president was joined by the chief executives of several of the nation’s largest tech companies, including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Elon Musk of Tesla and X, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon. Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin posted critically of this, saying, “Somehow, billionaires getting front row seats at Trump’s inauguration doesn’t give me confidence that working families are the priority.”

Ending his term, Joe Biden issued several pardons on his final day as president, including several for family members, as well as for former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci, and members of the House Jan. 6 committee. 

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