President Donald J Trump is Sworn in as the 49th President of the United States
Image courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
President Donald J Trump, surrounded by his family, was sworn in for his second term at 12:06 pm EST on the 20th of January. The ceremony was moved inside the Capitol building for the first time in 40 years due to frigid temperatures, although several recent inaugurations have faced colder weather.
After taking the oath of office, President Trump delivered a 29-minute speech that focused on America’s place on the world stage, the Biden administration's failures, his policy goals, and, most of all, his triumph over purported political persecution. He painted a picture of the United States bound in chains of government censorship, heavy taxation, and political policy that “engineer[ed] race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.” But he was going to be the country’s retribution, having accomplished the “impossible” comeback.
“My life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again,” President Trump declared to a standing ovation. “For American citizens, January 20th, 2025 is Liberation Day.”
Attendees to the 60th inauguration included former presidents and vice presidents, Trump’s cabinet picks, and foreign leaders such as Javier Milei and Giorgia Meloni, as well as tech CEOs such as Mark Zuckerburg, Tim Cook, Sundar Pichai, and Jeff Bezos. Seeming to lord over the Silicon Valley tycoons who had come to pay homage, President Trump expressed no sympathy as he said that some of them had lost their homes to the LA fires.
The vindicated president made his intentions to dominate DC clear as he repeatedly harped on his popular vote victory, which was narrow despite his claims of a landslide. “My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place.”
After President Trump concluded his speech, three clergy each led a nondenominational prayer. Rabbi Marvin Heir began, asking God to help Americans “unite us around our foundational biblical values.” Delving into a section on the Israeli-Gaza War, he prayed, “Hear the cry of the hostages, both American and Israeli, whose pain our president so acutely feels.” There was no mention of Palestinian hostages. Overall, six clergy participated in the inauguration ceremony. This is a marked increase from the maximum of two clergy who have participated in each inauguration since 1989.
The ceremony concluded with opera singer Christopher Macchio singing The Star Spangled Banner. After President Trump exited the Rotunda, he made his way to the Emancipation Hall to rally his supporters around familiar cries of election fraud, the moral uprightness of January 6th rioters, and calls for the persecution of Nancy Pelosi.