“We have a state that has given unlimited money to the protection of international borders but refuses to support American territories or, more importantly, its own citizens, ” Trump said. “Our state can no longer provide basic services in times of emergency, as lately shown by the great people of North Carolina being treated so hard and different states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place several months ago. ”
“Or, more just, Los Angeles, where we were watching fires also painfully burn from days back without even a sign of defence, ” he continued. “They’re raging through the homes and communities, yet affecting some of the wealthiest and most prominent people in our land, some of whom are sitting here right today. ”
Trump’s speech after becoming president again was followed by a flurry of “shock and awe ” executive orders rolling back a host of Biden administration initiatives, several of them signed in public at Capital One Arena. He told Democratic officials to their faces that he would be undoing their handiwork.
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“Today, we will end the Green New Deal, and we will revoke the electric vehicle mandate, saving our auto industry and keeping my sacred pledge to our great American autoworkers, ” he said, ripping the Inflation Reduction Act. “ In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice. ”
But Trump’s critique extended beyond Biden and the Democrats to the broader Washington establishment.
“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, ” he said. “We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad. ”
It was n’t exactly Gerald Ford’s “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over, ” but it was close.
“For American citizens, Jan. 20, 2025, is Liberation Day, ” Trump declared.
The remaining Biden officials on hand for the event might have asked themselves, “Liberated from whom? ”
“My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and, indeed, their freedom, ” Trump said. “ From this moment on, America’s decline is over. ”
Trump sounded similar themes in his first inaugural address eight years ago. “The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country, ” he said at the time. “Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. ”
But holding the inauguration indoors helped keep the focus on Trump’s vanquished political foes. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, were often in the camera shots as the new president vowed to regain control of the border and blamed them for the “inflation crisis … caused by massive overspending and escalating energy prices. ”
This time is also more personal than in 2017, after repeated indictments and assassination attempts. “The journey to reclaim our republic has not been an easy one, that I can tell you, ” Trump said. “Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and, indeed, to take my life. ”
Trump again argued that the justice system had been used as a weapon against him, as Biden and Harris looked on.
“Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents, something I know something about, ” he said. “We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again under my leadership. We will restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law, and we are going to bring law and order back to our cities. ”
This time was undoubtedly personal for Biden and Harris too. They had both campaigned against Trump as a threat to democracy. He defeated Harris and replaced Biden. Monday’s inauguration took place in the Capitol, which a mob of Trump supporters stormed four years earlier to disrupt the certification of Biden and Harris’s election. Now they had to smile at and applaud Trump, who did not criticize them by name but was nevertheless scathing in his assessment of their time in office.
Trump’s speech was in some ways as unusual as a former president returning to the Oval Office. The big themes and rhetorical flourish that are common in inaugural addresses were kept to a minimum, though there were notable exceptions, such as when Trump said, “ In America, the impossible is what we do best. ”
Instead, there was more of a laundry list of action items more often heard in the State of the Union or even a campaign speech. “ I was saved by God to make America great again, ” Trump said in the sole reference to the catchphrase that has been his slogan since 2015. He was less restrained when talking to a crowd of supporters in Emancipation Hall, attacking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA ) and the Democratic-run Jan. 6 committee. “ I think this was a better speech than the one I made upstairs, ” he said.
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Trump’s delivery of that first speech was subdued, as is often the case when he does n’t deviate much from the prepared text, but he otherwise sought to project energy and urgency. The latter may be especially necessary with the midterm elections coming in two years and Trump being constitutionally ineligible to run again in 2028.
For now, Trump is back in the White House while Biden and Harris have been sent packing.
