Donald Trump has taken the oath of office to become the 47th president of the United States, returning to the White House four years after he left it in defeat.In his inaugural speech on Monday, Trump, 78, took an aggressive posture, using his podium in the Capitol rotunda to blast his predecessor, outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden.
He also framed himself as a victim of government “weaponisation”, taking jabs at what he called a “radical and corrupt establishment”.
“My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal,” Trump said. “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”
This was Trump’s second presidency, after serving in the White House from 2017 to 2021.
But the Trump who returned to the presidency on Monday was a Trump who appeared more confident than in his first term, as he announced his intention to sign a stream of executive actions from his first moments in office.
“ With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It’s all about common sense,” he said, citing a new pro-business energy policy and a crackdown on irregular migration as two of his first actions. Advertisement
He also pledged to “expand” US borders, warning Panama he would “take back” the canal the US built there.
Still, while Trump once again painted a portrait of the US as a country on the precipice, he tried to strike a more upbeat posture than in his 2017 inaugural address, which became known as the “Amer …
