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Donald Trump, who returned to power on a wave of voters’ dissatisfaction with the status quo, promised a new “golden age” for America in his inaugural address.
The speech was a mixture of promises – and contradictions – that highlighted some of the opportunities and challenges the new president will face in his second term in office.
He paid special attention to issues of immigration and the economy, issues that opinion polls indicate that American voters cared a lot about last year. He also promised to end diversity programs promoted by the government, and indicated that the official policy of the United States would only recognize two genders, male and female.
That last line sparked an enthusiastic response at the Capitol and wild cheers from a crowd of supporters gathered in a nearby sports arena. It’s a sign that cultural issues — where he drew the most notable contrasts with Democrats in last year’s election — will remain one of the strongest ways Trump connects with his base.
But before outlining what this new era might entail, Trump painted a bleak picture of the current American political climate.
While his predecessor Joe Biden and other Democrats sat to one side, Trump said the government was facing a “crisis of confidence.” He condemned the “evil, violent, and unfair weaponization” practiced by the US Department of Justice, which investigated and attempted to prosecute him on charges of contesting the results of the 2020 elections.
He called for a mandate to reverse “horrible betrayals” and criticized the “extremist and corrupt establishment” that he said had taken power and wealth away from American citizens.
It was the kind of populist, anti-elite rhetoric that has been a staple of Trump’s rhetoric for a decade. Unlike when Trump first began his rise to the top of American political power in 2015, Trump represents the current emerging establishment as much as any one man. Sitting behind him on the podium were some of the world’s richest and most influential corporate leaders.
On his inauguration day, Trump is getting the attention – and the initiative. His aides have promised hundreds of executive actions — on a range of topics, including immigration, energy, trade, education and hot-button cultural issues.
In his opening speech, he detailed a handful of them. He pledged to declare a national emergency regarding energy and immigration, allowing him to station the US military at the border, dramatically 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 the Gulf of Mexico to “America’s Gulf” and to restore the Panama Canal.
He made an unsubstantiated claim that China was running the key waterway, and said that American ships, including naval vessels, were paying too much in transit fees – perhaps a reference to the real target in future negotiations with the Panamanian government.
“The United States will once again consider itself a growing country,” he said, pledging to increase American wealth and expand “our territory.”
That last part may catch the attention of US allies, who are already wary of Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland and are scoffing at making Canada the 51st US state.
During the campaign, and in this speech, Trump made a series of big promises. Now that he is president, he will be challenged to deliver – and demonstrate the true meaning of the golden age he heralds.
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2025-01-20 21:56:00
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