Donald Trump, who rode back into power on a wave of voter dissatisfaction with the status quo, promised a new “golden age” for America in his inaugural address.
The speech was a mix of promises – and contradictions – that underlined some of the opportunities and challenges the new president will face in his second term in office.
He started talking at a little after noon on Monday, and it seemed at times like he didn’t stop talking – at ad-libbed remarks later at the Capitol, at his indoor parade rally at a downtown sports arena and at the White House executive order signing – until well into the evening.
Through it all, Trump demonstrated the kind of dramatic flair and penchant for controversy and confrontation that has energised his supporters and infuriated his critics.
During his inaugural address, Trump paid particular attention to immigration and the economy – issues that polls suggest American voters cared about most last year. He also promised to end government-promoted diversity programmes and noted that US official policy would only recognise two genders, male and female.
That last line generated an enthusiastic response at the Capitol and wild cheers from his crowd of supporters gathered at a nearby sport arena. It’s a sign that cultural issues – where he drew the most vivid contrasts with Democrats in last year’s election – will continue to be one of Trump’s most powerful ways the new president connects with his base.
Before he outlined what this new age would entail, however, Trump painted a dark picture of the current American political climate.
As his predecessor, Joe Biden, and other Democrats sat stone-faced to one side, Trump said the government faces a “crisis of trust”. He condemned the “vicious, violent and unfair weaponisation” of the US Justice Department, which had investigated and attempted to prosecute him for contesting the 2020 election results.
He claimed a mandate to reverse “horrible betrayals” and lashed out at a “radical and corrupt establishment” that he said extracted power and wealth from America’s citizens.
It was the kind of populist, anti-elite rhetoric that has been a staple of Trump’s speeches for a decade. Unlike when Trump first began his ascent to the pinnacles of US political power in 2015, however, Trump represents the current emerging establishment as much as any one man. And sitting behind him on the dais were a collection of some of the wealthiest, and most influential, corporate leaders in the world.
On the day of his inauguration, Trump has the attention – and the initiative. His aides have promised hundreds of executive actions – on a range of subjects, including immigration, energy, trade, education and hot-button cultural issues.
In his inaugural address, he detailed a handful of them. He pledged to declare national emergencies on energy and immigration, allowing him to put the US military on the border, drastically limit the rights of asylum-seekers and reopen large swaths of federal land to energy extraction. He repeated his pledge to change the name of Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” and to take back the Panama Canal.
He made an unfounded claim that China was running the key waterway and said that US ships, including naval vessels, were paying too much in transit fees – perhaps a hint at the real objective in future negotiations with the Panamanian government.
“The US will once again consider itself a growing nation,” he said, pledging to increase American wealth and expand “our territory”.
That last bit might catch the ear of US allies, who have already been concerned by Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland and quips about making Canada the 51st US state.
On the campaign trail, and in this speech, Trump made a series of big promises. Now that he is president, he will be challenged to deliver – and show what the “golden age” he heralds actually means.
After Trump concluded his speech and saw Biden depart via a Marine helicopter, he gave off-the-cuff remarks at a gathering of supporters elsewhere in the Capitol. It was there that the more unscripted Trump – the one who frequently generates headlines and turns American politics on its head – reemerged.
The 2020 election was “rigged”, he said. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was criminally responsible for the 6 January, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. He boasted about the size of his 2024 election victory and said he grudgingly agreed to talk about “unity” in his inaugural address.
It was just a taste of what was in store for the rest of the day – and for the next four years.
At a signing ceremony in the evening, Trump took an ordinary presidential act – rescinding orders from a previous administration of different party – and turned it into spectacle.
After giving another winding speech – his third of the day – Trump moved to a small desk on the stage at the downtown sport arena where his indoor inaugural parade had just concluded. Then he went to work freezing new federal regulations and hiring, reversing Biden administration directives, mandating federal workers work in-office full-time and withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords.
“Can you imagine Joe Biden doing this?” he asked after signing the regulation freeze – but that applied to the moment as much as the content of the orders.
He also signed more symbolic orders to end the “weaponisation of government” and instruct his administration to address the higher cost of living.
After the arena ceremony, Trump tossed the pens he used into the crowd – another Trumping flourish.
Then he went back to the White House, and executive orders continued – pardoning nearly all of the 1,600-plus supporters arrested in the 6 January Capitol riot, temporarily suspending the TikTok ban and withdrawing the US from the World Health Organisation. He also reinterpreted a key constitutional amendment and instructed his administration to cease granting citizenship to US-born children of undocumented migrants. All the while, he offered a running commentary – including proposing a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada starting on 1 February, accusing Democrats of cheating in the 2020 election and expressing doubt about the Gaza War ceasefire.
Trump returns to power with a team that has a detailed strategy for governing and an aggressive agenda to pursue. Trump himself, however, can still be as unpredictable and unfocused as ever – making remarks that could represent new policy or just a momentary distraction.
The second Trump era has truly begun.
