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Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th commander-in-chief of the United States. He is the first president since Grover Cleveland to enter the White House for a non-consecutive second term.
The ceremony was moved indoors at the US Capitol for the first time since Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985 by the punishing sub-zero temperatures currently blasting Washington D.C.
In his inaugural address, Trump declared that a new “golden age of America” has started, which will make the country he now leads “greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before.” He then delivered a dark and brooding denunciation of his own government.
Just two hours after being sworn in, the president has begun signing more than 200 executive orders – a record – covering everything from border security and energy to ending birthright citizenship and renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
As the day began, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden greeted the incoming president and Melania Trump at the White House by saying: “Welcome home.”
After the inauguration ceremony, the Trumps bid farewell to the Bidens, who departed the Capitol in Marine One before flying to California.
In pictures: Donald Trump reviews the troops in Emancipation Hall
Watch LIVE: Trump motorcade crosses Washington
In his second speech as president, Trump gave a grievance-filled meandering diatribe
After a staid, if dark, inaugural address, newly sworn-in President Donald Trump revisited old gripes and grievances in a rambling speech in the overflow room in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol after seeing off former President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden.
Gustaf Kilander did his best to follow the meandering thoughts of the president.
Carrie Underwood’s Trump inauguration performance hit by technical issue
After a few awkward moments of silence, Underwood decided to sing the song a cappella. “If you know the words, help me out here,” she told the audience.
Inga Parkel reports.
Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen gave his thoughts on Donald Trump’s speech to CNN: “I thought President Trump painted a dystopian picture of America, chock full of misrepresentations, one that most Americans will not recognize, and then set him up to be the great savior.”
‘I was saved by God to make America great again’: Read Trump’s inaugural address in full
He has already promised to sign 200 day-one executive orders, including one renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’ and another saying the US government will only recognize two sexes, among many others.
For better or worse, the United States will be a different country after his first full day in office.
During his inauguration, Trump addressed the nation, and proclaimed that God had saved him from assassination so that he might live to “make America great again,” and promised a new “Golden Age” for the United States.
Here are Trump’s comments in full:
Watch: Trump participates in first honors ceremony
How does Trump’s 2017 inauguration speech compare with what we heard today?
Donald Trump’s 2025 and 2017 inauguration speeches compared
Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th United States President at The White House on Monday, January 20th, 2025. With this being the second time he has been elected, The Independent looks back at his inauguration speech from eight years ago on Friday, January 20th, 2017. In both speeches, Donald Trump expressed his goal of bringing back “strength” to the American people. However, a more serious tone was used in his 2025 speech, emphasizing securing the border and the “unrelenting success” of America over other countries. The 47th president’s speech serves as an example of the intense nationalism that has risen in the United States during the last few years.
Melania’s hat keeps Trump’s kiss at bay
Melania Trump wore a wide-brimmed hat by Eric Javits as part of her Adam Lippes outfit. She wore a navy blue silk-and-wool overcoat and an ivory scarf by Lippes, 52, who became known as the youngest creative director at Oscar de la Renta before starting his own label.
Gustaf Kilander has the story.
ANALYSIS: Trump once distanced himself from Project 2025. But now MAGA’s hardliners are ready for the revolution
During the bitter presidential election campaign, Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her supporters regularly quoted from the Project 2025 tome produced by more than 100 righting thinktanks and led by the massive Heritage Foundation.
At one point, such was the intensity of attacks around it, Donald Trump publicly disavowed the document and distanced himself from it.
Things have changed now, as David Maddox, The Independent’s political editor, reports from Washington, D.C.
Source: independent.co.uk
