President Donald Trump offered a scathing rebuke of his predecessor’s tenure as he outlined his immediate actions on the first day of his second term. the inauguration notes, “America’s decline is over.”
Trump painted a bleak picture of the country under the Biden administration as he touted himself as a “peacemaker and unifier” and that a “Golden Age” is beginning for the country.
He also referenced his personal legal battles and his historic political return to the White House during his nearly 30-minute remarks after taking the oath of office in the Rotunda of the US Capitol.
Here are some key takeaways from his first remarks as the 47th President of the United States.
Reversing a “monstrous betrayal”.
Trump immediately hit on Joe Biden’s lead, as the now-former president sat in the auditorium, though he didn’t mention his predecessor by name.
Trump focused in particular on immigration and recent natural disasters, including hurricanes in North Carolina and the fires in Los Angeles.
“My last election is a mandate to completely and utterly reverse a terrible betrayal, and all these many betrayals that have occurred, and to give back to the people their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed their freedom,” Trump said. .
As he did during the 2024 campaign, Trump painted a bleak picture of the current state of the US.
“From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” he said. “Our liberties and the glorious destiny of our nation will no longer be denied, and we will immediately restore the integrity, competence, and integrity of the American government.”
Former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris listen to President Donald Trump’s inaugural address after being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States inside the Rotunda of the Capitol in Washington.
Shawn Thew/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Immediate executive orders
Trump implemented some of them executive actions He plans to take Day 1, including declaring a national emergency and an energy emergency along the southern border to “dig, baby, dig.”
He said he would send troops to the US-Mexico border to “repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” reinstate the “stay in Mexico” policy and end the practice of “catch and release,” among other things.
“With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense,” he said. “It’s all about common sense.”
Attack on DEI policies
Trump said he plans to undo diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the federal government and “ends with government policy to attempt to socially engineer race and gender into all aspects of public and private life.”
“We will form a dtonic and merit-based society,” he said.
Trump got more into it culture wars and said that, as of Monday, the official policy of the United States government will be to have only two genders, male and female.
Legacy as a “peacemaker and unifier.”
The inauguration took place a day after the ceasefire and hostage agreement between Israel and Hamas came into effect, for which Trump did it. He wanted to take credit.
“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” he said, “one day before taking office, hostages in the Middle East are being returned to their families.”
He said he wants to measure success in the wars the US ends and “perhaps most importantly, the wars we never enter.”
Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds a Bible in the Capitol Rotunda during the 60th Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025.
Morris Gash/Pool/AP
Expansionist view
Trump continued to put his expansionist view For the US, including a plan to gain control of the Panama Canal.
“American ships are being overloaded and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form, and that includes the United States Navy,” he said. “Especially, China is exploiting the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama. And we’re taking it back.”
He too he repeated his plan The Gulf of Mexico to be named the Gulf of America.
Personal struggles
Trump, who was convicted by a jury of his peers and impeached four times during his first term, mentioned his legal troubles in his speech.
“Never again will the enormous power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents — something that I know of,” Trump said, continuing to argue that he was politically motivated. “We will not allow this to happen. It will not happen again. Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law.”
Both cases against him were dropped after he won re-election, with prosecutors citing longstanding Justice Department policy that the president cannot be charged with a crime.
He also mentioned the attack against him in Pennsylvania last year.
“Those who want to stop our cause have tried to take away my liberty and indeed my life. A few months ago in a beautiful field in Pennsylvania, an assassin’s bullet grazed my ear, but then I felt it, and believed it even more. so now I saved my life for a reason God made America Great Again.”
Return all
Trump celebrated his historical return during his speech. He is only the second president in US history, after Grover Cleveland in 1892, to win non-consecutive terms, and is the first felon to take office.
“Many people thought it was impossible for me to make such a historic political comeback. But as you can see today, here I am, the American people have spoken,” said Trump.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
