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Donald Trump has pledged his inauguration marks the beginning of “a golden age” for the US and declared that God had saved him from an assassin’s bullet “to make America great again”.
In a characteristically bombastic speech from the Capitol in Washington DC, the now 47th President of the United States laid out a radical rightwing domestic and foreign agenda. Surrounded by Congress Representatives, Senators, former presidents and Supreme Court justices, the newly sworn-in president declared: “Every single day of the Trump Administration, I will very simply put America first.”
He vowed to strip out diversity measures, end transgender positive measures in schools and sports stating his government will “only recognise two genders”, and to end net zero policies promising to “drill baby drill”.
It followed his official swearing at an event, brought inside because of the sub-zero temperatures, which reflected all the dignity and pageantry of the US political establishment. But his words – more suited for a campaign rally – quickly turned the agenda against some of those in the room.
His speech was overseen not only by America’s political elite but leading politicians from around the world including his populist right allies Nigel Farage and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, as well as former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson.
The leaders of America’s new tech industry also came to pay homage with Elon Musk who helped him win the election standing nearby and cheering when Trump promised to conquer the stars again and plant the stars and stripes on Mars – a project championed by the X owner. Facebook’s Mark Zuckeberg, a former critic, as well as Amazon’s Jeff Bezos were guests, marking a shift in corporate attitudes to the returning president.
Sat at the front were the now former president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris, forced to watch much like Barack Obama in 2016, as Mr Trump publicly berated their record and tore their agenda apart before their eyes.
Ripping apart the record of those sitting around him an unconcerned Trump accused them of being a “radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens.” Referring to his own legal challenges over the last four years he vowed to end the “weaponisation of the law”.
In watch parties in the American capital and around the US, Maga Republican supporters loudly cheered every sentence as Mr Trump voted to restore respect for America around the world.
But the address contained a huge threat to countries around the world and will have Keir Starmer’s government in the UK among others worried as he vowed to impose tariffs to boost American prosperity.
“Americans have been paying taxes to enrich other countries, that’s going to stop,” he said promising tariffs to “enrich Americans”.
Mr Trump declared the US would be an “international peacemaker” and “end wars”, while also repeating his intention to “take back the Panama canal”.
Accusing Panama of breaking the treaty by giving “China control of the canal”, he added: “It should never have been given away.”
The president did not specifically mention Ukraine with many in Europe holding their breath over what he might do to end that war. But he indicated that the US would be ending its involvement in international conflicts.
The UK government is also likely to be told that its attempts to hand over the Chagos islands to Mauritius will be opposed by the Trump administration because of the US/ UK Diego Garcia base.
However, the newly sworn-in president’s top priority was to tackle the immigration crisis declaring a national emergency with immediate effect on the southern border with Mexico.
He revived a law from 1798 – the Alien Act – to tackle cartels and foreign criminal gangs “operating in America’s inner cities”.
He said he would be deporting “millions” of illegal aliens in an uncompromising speech delivered not to the audience around him but to his devoted supporters around America. Mr Trump vowed to restore American greatness with “a patriotic administration” and “make it greater than ever before.”
He also put his weight behind Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which promises to slash the size of the state.
Rightwing politicians like Nigel Farage and others hoping to seize power in western democracies in the next few years will be watching to see if the 47th president can succeed in his populist rightwing agenda. Meanwhile, liberal and progressive governments such as Sir Keir’s in the UK are bracing for a backlash of anger from the Trump administration.
Sources close to the incoming president have warned he intends to “humiliate” Starmer over his controversial choice of Lord Mandelson as ambassador to the US.
He also intends to have a bellicose attitude towards the EU and will double down on efforts to force Nato allies to massively increase their defence spending.
Sir Keir issued a statement welcoming the new president into office with clouds hanging over the UK/ US relationship which allies of Trump have warned “is not special” with the Labour government in place.
But with Trump vowing that “America’s decline ends today” his America first nationalism is set to change the international order.
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