Donald Trump took oath as the 47th President of the United States Monday, capping a remarkable turnaround in fortunes that nosedived after the riots in Washington, D.C. in January 2021 and hit rock bottom in May 2024, when he was convicted of felonies by a New York court, including charges relating to falsifying business records to cover payment of ‘hush money’ to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actor.
Trump’s deputy, JD Vance, was sworn in as Vice President just before him.
Almost immediately after Trump was sworn in, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated his “dear friend” and wished him a successful term. “I look forward to working closely together once again, to benefit both our countries and shape a better future for the world,” Mr Modi said on X.
Earlier today Trump was welcomed to the Capitol by his predecessor, Joe Biden, and his deputy, Kamala Harris, whom he beat in the November election. “Welcome home,” Biden said, underlining the smooth transition of power, something conspicuous by its absence four years ago when Trump lost.
Former Presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush, and Bill Clinton were also present.
Trump: The President, The Felon
Donald Trump is now the first convicted felon to be President of the United States.
He was already the first ex-President to be convicted of felony crimes – the jury found him guilty on all 34 charges, including those in a scheme to illegally influence the 2020 presidential election, the loss of which led to the riots. He has announced he intends to pardon many of the convicted rioters.
Minutes after being administered the oath by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Trump – who survived assassination attempts – declared, “The ‘Golden Age of America’ begins now”.
In his first remarks after being sworn in Trump referred to the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July and declared he had been “saved by God to make America great again”.
“The ‘Golden Age of America’ has begun, as of right now. We will become the great nation we were again. The rest of the world will envy us,” he said to raucous cheers from supporters.
“Not so long ago, during the election campaign, I was targeted in an attempted assassination attempt, when a bullet pierced through my ear. But God saved me… because my purpose is to make America great again,” Trump, who at 78 is also the oldest American President ever, said.
Trump’s Executive Orders
Trump had vowed to sign a flurry of executive orders on his first day as President; “Your head will spin when you see what’s going to happen,” he had promised. These will include announcing stringent curbs on immigrant and mass deportation of illegal migrants, as well as banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, and undoing his predecessor’s directives on diversity and oil drilling.
He will also declare a national emergency at the Mexico border, send the military there, and resume a policy forcing asylum seekers to wait for court dates. He will also seek to end ‘birthright citizenship’ for US-born children whose parents lack legal status, a move decried by some as unconstitutional.
READ | “Will Declare National Emergency At Mexico Border”: Trump Vows
The notion of ‘birthright citizenship’ is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the American Constitution, and it grants anyone born on US soil the right to an American passport.
Also, as part of his promise to restore that ‘Golden Age’, Trump emphasised the muscular ‘America-first’ policy that underpinned his first term, declaring, “I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families… we will tariff and tax foreign countries…”
READ | Trump Vows To “Tariff And Tax Foreign Countries” As He Returns
But Trump will not impose these tariffs immediately. Sources in the administration said he would first direct federal agencies to evaluate trade relationships with Canada, China and Mexico. That unexpected development triggered a broad slide in the dollar and a rally in global stock markets.
Another Trump executive order will bring back the death penalty, which Biden had suspended.
In total, Trump – whose second term, critics and ‘allies’, including Europe and NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, fear, will push the limits of executive power – expected to sign around 100 orders, many of which will aim to reverse decisions by his predecessor, Joe Biden.
Several, if not all, of these executive orders will face legal challenges.
Paris Climate Deal Deja Vu
Trump will also withdraw the US from the Paris climate deal, removing the world’s biggest historic emitter from global efforts to fight climate change for the second time in a decade.
The decision will place the US along Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries outside the 2015 pact, in which governments agreed to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
The announcement reflects Trump’s skepticism about global warming, which he calls a ‘hoax’, and fits in with his broader agenda to unfetter oil and gas drillers from regulation so they can maximise output.
“Drill, baby, drill,” was what he declared after being sworn in.
Trump also withdrew from the Paris deal in his first term, a move Biden reversed immediately.
With input from agencies