“I, Donald John Trump, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully serve my country.” With those words, spoken inside the rotunda of the US Capitol on Monday, January 20, 2025, Trump took the oath as the 47th president of the United States. Chief Justice John Roberts administered it.
The ceremony was moved indoors because of bitterly cold weather. The Guardian reported sub-zero temperatures. The high sandstone hall at the Capitol’s centre is the same spot where some of Trump’s supporters rioted on 6 January 2021 in an attempt to overturn his election defeat. Former presidents, family members and what ABC described as a striking number of tech industry leaders gathered there to watch. Four of Trump’s predecessors, Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush, were present for his address.
The speech
“The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump said. He told the crowd that “from this moment on America’s decline is over,” and promised that “I will, very simply, put America first.”
He listed a string of executive orders he would sign right away, many on immigration. They included declaring a state of emergency at the southern border to allow troops to be deployed, and an attempt to end birthright citizenship. He said he would designate drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations, revoke the electric vehicle mandate, and create an External Revenue Service to collect tariffs, though he gave no rates. He also said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, and declared of the Panama Canal: “China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and we’re taking it back.” On energy, he said: “We will drill, baby, drill.”
He referred to the attempt on his life during the campaign. “Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear,” he said, adding that he believed his life “was saved by God to make America great again.”
Trump did not mention Ukraine. “My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” he said, and added that success would be measured by “the wars that we end, and most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
Who was there
The inauguration was the first attended by Chinese vice-president Han Zheng, Argentina’s president Javier Milei and Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni. Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent last year, attended as JD Vance took her place as vice-president. Hillary Clinton witnessed the swearing-in eight years after she went to his first inauguration. Michelle Obama stayed away.
North America correspondent Carrington Clarke told ABC’s AM program that supporters who had waited for hours outside the arena where an indoor parade was to be held could not get close, and were disappointed. Even so, he said, “the mood is buoyant.” Clarke said most of the speech repeated campaign promises, with immigration the topic he heard most from supporters.
Biden’s final hours
Biden left the White House for the last time shortly before the ceremony. In his final hours he issued pre-emptive pardons. The first covered people connected to the January 6 investigation, including former Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Trump’s former Joint Chiefs chairman, Mark Milley. In the last 20 minutes or so of his presidency, after he had already entered the Capitol, the White House announced he had also pardoned his siblings and their spouses. Biden has said it is not an admission of guilt and that he fears continued attacks driven by hyper-partisan politics. Trump had already responded angrily to the earlier pardons, Clarke said.
Sources
- Trump sworn-in as 47th President – ABC listen
- Trump sworn in as 47th president as US braces for a new era of disruption and division
