Donald Trump will be sworn in for a historic second term as US president Monday, promising a new “golden age” for America as the world braces for a return of his unpredictable leadership. Freezing weather has forced the 78-year-old’s inauguration at the US Capitol indoors, but the first hours of the most extraordinary comeback in American politics will be a blaze of activity.
The Republican vowed to unleash a blitz of executive orders undoing Joe Biden’s legacy upon his return to the White House, and to launch immediate deportations of undocumented migrants. If Trump painted a dystopian picture of “American carnage” at his first inauguration in 2017, this time around he is offering a more upbeat promise of a “brand new day” for the United States.
“I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country,” Trump told a huge inauguration eve rally where he also danced with the Village People band. But the billionaire populist also returned to some of the dark themes that drove his election victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in November. The incoming 47th US president said he would “stop the invasion of our borders” and reverse “woke” policies including “transgender insanity” in US schools.
Trump will make history by replacing Biden as the oldest president to be sworn in. He is also just the second president in US history to return to power after being voted out, after Grover Cleveland in 1893. Ahead of the inauguration, Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will host Trump and his wife Melania for “tea and coffee” at the White House, before they all travel together to the Capitol. The display of civility will be a stark contrast to 2021 when Trump — who riled a crowd that attacked the US Capitol in a bid to overturn his election loss — refused to attend Biden’s inauguration.
Trump’s triumphal mood has meanwhile not been chilled by the fact that the swearing-in on the steps of the Capitol had to be moved due to predictions of the coldest Inauguration Day for 40 years.
Peoplesmind
