The 45th president becomes the 47th, while the 46th had one final trick up his sleeve. The Bulletin’s Stewart Sowman-Lund explains what just happened.
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‘The golden age of America begins right now’
Donald Trump is officially the 47th president of the United States, having been sworn in just an hour at an indoor ceremony in Washington DC. The president takes office under very different circumstances than he did in 2016, wrote AP’s Mary Clare Jalonick, this time being fully embraced by the party that he has dominated for eight years.
Speaking for the first time as president today, Trump delivered what could have been a rally speech, referencing his historic election victory and even the result he received in the country’s swing states. “I will very simply put America first,” he told attendees, which included former presidents, world leaders and prominent supporters such as Elon Musk. “The golden age of America begins right now”.
He continued: “Sunlight is pouring over the entire world, and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before, but first, we must be honest about the challenges we face.”
Trump made a number of promises in his lengthy address, including to “drill, baby, drill”, stop all wars, reclaim the Panama Canal, declare that there are only two genders, and reinstate any service members expelled from the military for objecting to the Covid vaccine.
He also took aim at a number of perceived failures of the Biden administration, such as allowing a surge of criminals into the country at the border. “We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad,” said Trump.
A blitz of executive orders
The new president’s first day isn’t expected to be low key, perhaps owing to the fact this is the second time that Trump has been subjected to the formalities and pageantry of taking the world’s highest office. Speaking to supporters on the eve of the inauguration, Trump promised to move with “historic speed and strength” as soon as he had been sworn in, reported the BBC. Close to 100 executive orders are expected to be implemented by Trump on his first day, the president and his team have told allies this week, across areas such as immigration and energy. On the former, Trump repeatedly told supporters on the campaign trail that he intended to launch the largest deportation programme in American history. And on the eve of his presidency commencing, Trump told a rally crowd that the “invasion of our country” will be over by the end of his first day in office, Reuters reported.
Some of the president’s early actions are likely to be felt here in New Zealand, explained Stuff’s Glenn McConnell. That includes heightened tariffs and possible pressure to sign up to the Aukus agreement, which the coalition government has been investigating. Speaking to RNZ moments ago, former National Party leader and avid follower of US politics, Todd Muller, said Trump’s proposed tariffs risked causing a “protectionist trade war” that could be a disaster for New Zealand.
World leaders congratulate Trump
Though a new Trump presidency brings with a degree of uncertainty around how the United States will work with other countries, world leaders have started to congratulate him. As the ABC reported, that includes Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who acknowledged Trump’s “desire to restore direct contacts with Russia, which were interrupted through no fault of our own by the outgoing administration”.
For the first time in US history, a number of world leaders and dignitaries attended Trump’s inauguration. The Guardian reported that conservative leaders from Italy and Argentina were among those in attendance, along with former UK prime minister Liz Truss. Trump reportedly invited China’s Xi Jinping to attend, but a top official travelled to Washington instead.
On social media, others such as UK prime minister Keir Starmer and outgoing Canadian leader Justin Trudeau have acknowledged Trump’s inauguration. New Zealand’s foreign minister Winston Peters has so far only congratulated new vice president JD Vance, though an official message from the government is likely incoming.
Joe Biden takes pre-emptive action on last day of presidency
Let’s not forget Joe Biden. The now-former president spent his final full day in office in South Carolina, reported AP, a state that helped send him on the path to the White House in the 2020 Democratic primary. Politico has a good read on the inside story of Biden’s final days in office. Biden and his wife, former first lady Jill Biden, joined both Donald and Melania Trump at the inauguration this morning, a tradition that Trump forewent four years ago. The pair sat quietly through much of the ceremony, not standing during Trump’s speech – understandable given a large portion of it was dedicated to tearing apart his time in office. CNN’s Kaitlin Collins noted that Biden laughed when Trump said he was going to sign executive orders to restore common sense.
Biden’s final act in office was to issue preemptive pardons to Trump critics and members of his own family in an effort to prevent them from being drawn into vengeful action by the new president. CNN described this as a “stunning flex of presidential power that is unprecedented in recent presidential history”.