- The ceremony was moved into the Capitol Rotunda because of subfreezing temperatures forecast for Washington.
- Trump is expected to begin his first hours in office by signing a slew of executive orders, including many aimed at tightening rules on immigration and possibly initiating a mass deportation.
WASHINGTON — Donald J. Trump took the oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States on Monday, capping a remarkable political comeback that he said would enable him “to make America greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before.”
The man who served as the 45th president painted a dark portrait of the challenges facing the country without his leadership and said he had overcome many obstacles — including an assassination attempt — because he had been “saved by God to make America great again.”
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Trump became only the second person in the nation’s nearly 250-year history to regain the White House after losing it — following Grover Cleveland, the first Democrat to become president after the Civil War and the last to hold the post before the dawn of the 20th century.
The Republican’s ascension to the most powerful office in the world represented an astounding resurrection for a man twice impeached during his first term, then held liable for both civil and criminal misconduct during the years he tried to regain the White House. He has become the first convicted felon to serve as president.
The former businessman and reality TV star returns to the White House this week with an approval rating above 50%, marking his best showing in the polls since his unexpected and divisive rise to power in 2016.
Organizers of the ceremony, driven indoors by frigid temperatures, chose the theme “Our Enduring Democracy,” an ideal that had been challenged four years ago, when Trump refused to attend the inauguration or accept that former Vice President Joe Biden had defeated him.
Every living former president attended Monday’s event — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. They were joined by world leaders including former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and recently elected Argentinian President Javier Milei.
The chief executives of Meta, X, and Amazon sat in front of the president-elect’s entire Cabinet — a nod to the importance Trump has given the heads of some of the most powerful companies and social media platforms.
Also occupying prime seats were conservative business and political figures, including SpaceX and Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk, ultimate fighting impresario Dana White and Joe Rogan, the online commentator.
Trump spoke for nearly 30 minutes to the inaugural gathering, a nationwide audience and supporters who were forced to gather in Capital One Arena in Washington after the planned outdoor inauguration was canceled.
Sticking almost entirely to his prepared remarks, the president ranged widely in his tone — from recriminations about his purported mistreatment by Biden and others, to a pledge to take unprecedented measures at the U.S. Mexico border “to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” to loftier pledges centered on restoring America’s “manifest destiny” to lead the world.
The address began with Trump returning to a theme of American exceptionalism that he unveiled in 2015, when he began his first presidential campaign.
“The Golden Age of America begins right now,” he said. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer during every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first.”
At 78 years and 220 days, Trump is the oldest individual ever to become president, surpassing Biden, who had been just a couple of months past 78 when he took the oath of office in 2021. The Republican president, who will benefit from having GOP majorities in both the House and Senate, said his leadership was needed at a time the Democrats had led the country badly astray.
“As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust,” Trump said. “For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.”
Trump blamed lax immigration policy, which allowed illegal entries to the U.S. to soar early in Biden’s term, for much of the country’s trouble.
The president pledged to reverse that “immediately,” saying he would declare “a national emergency at our southern border.” He said he also would launch a long-promised deportation of “millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”
He pledged to send troops to the border to execute his order and restore a “remain in Mexico” policy that forbid asylum seekers — some of whom fled criminal and political persecution — from staying in America while their cases are heard.
Trump also promised fast action on a second pillar of his successful campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris — tamping down inflation. He said he would rein in federal spending and lower energy prices by declaring another national emergency, to clear the path for a bonanza of gas and oil drilling.
Those actions will come as he reverses the Green New Deal, the package of reforms and incentives that Democrats approved to promote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. He also promised to “revoke” government support for electric vehicles, though it was not clear what that would mean.
“We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it,” Trump said.
Democrats have pledged to continue their support for alternative fuels, particularly in states including California, which have all but eliminated coal-fired power plants and helped power a shift to electric cars.
