WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Trump said a ‘tide of change is sweeping the country,’striking an optimistic note as he told Americans during his inaugural address Monday that the U.S. is beginning a ‘new era of national success,’ while declaring that the country’s ‘decline is over.’
Trump addressed the nation on Monday after taking the oath of office for the second time and being sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.
‘In recent years, our nation has suffered greatly. But we are going to bring it back and make it great again, greater than ever before. We will be a nation like no other, full of compassion, courage and exceptionalism. Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent, and totally unpredictable. America will be respected again and admired again, including by people of religion, faith, and goodwill,’ he said.
‘We will be prosperous, we will be proud, we will be strong, and we will win like never before. We will not be conquered. We will not be intimidated. We will not be broken, and we will not fail,’ he said. ‘From this day on, the United States of America will be a free, sovereign and independent nation. We will stand bravely. We will live proudly. We will dream boldly, and nothing will stand in our way. Because we are Americans. Their future is ours, and our golden age has just begun.’
‘During every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first,’ Trump said.
Trump vowed that U.S. ‘sovereignty will be reclaimed, our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end. And our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free.’
Trump promised that he would not use the government to go after political opponents, saying it was something he knew something about, a reference to his claims of persecution by the Biden administration.
‘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 from this moment on, America’s decline is over,’ Trump said.
The president delivered his remarks from the Capitol Rotunda Monday due to an arctic blast that hit the nation’s capital, with frigid temperatures forcing the inaugural ceremonies to be moved indoors for the first time in four decades. He hammered the Biden administration, despite former President Joe Biden and former President Kamala Harris sitting just behind him.
‘As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. 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, 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 fails to protect our magnificent, law-abiding criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world,’ he said.
He drew some of the loudest applause by saying that it will now be the official policy of the U.S. to only recognize two genders: male and female.
Trump, who won the Electoral College and popular vote, defeated Harris in a landslide. Trump was running against then-President Joe Biden, who was seeking re-election, until July 2024. But after the two debated for the first time, and after a disastrous performance by Biden, the incumbent was pressured by Democrat insiders to suspend his presidential bid.
Biden made the announcement in a social media post and endorsed Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee in his place, moving his vice president to the top of the ticket.
The decision for Biden to drop out of the race came just days after the Republican National Convention (RNC) finished, and after Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, formally accepted the GOP nomination.
But Trump, just days before accepting the Republican nomination, survived an assassination attempt at a rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. During the event, Trump was showing off a chart highlighting how illegal immigration skyrocketed under the Biden-Harris administration. As he turned toward the chart, he was hit by a bullet that pierced the upper part of his right ear by the now-deceased would-be-assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Weeks later, in September, another would-be-assassin hid himself in the bushes at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida. The gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, had an AK-47-style rifle pointing through the fence toward Trump as he was golfing. Trump was rushed off the golf course by U.S. Secret Service agents, unharmed.
Trump reflected on his near-death experience, and his unprecedented trials and legal battles throughout the 2024 campaign cycle.
‘Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history, and I’ve learned a lot along the way. The journey to reclaim our republic has not been an easy one, and that I can tell you. Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed to take my life,’ Trump said. ‘Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear.’
He added: ‘But I felt then and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.’
Trump, on his first day in office, is expected to take more than 200 executive actions – a massive, first wave of policy priorities focused on border security, energy, reducing the cost of living for American families, ending DEI programs across the federal government, and more, Fox News Digital exclusively reported.
Trump said he will also deliver on his campaign promise to roll back the policies of his predecessor on his first day in office. Trump will end ‘catch and release’; pause all offshore wind leases; terminate the electric vehicle mandate; abolish the Green New Deal; withdraw from the Paris climate accord; and take several major steps to assert presidential control over the federal bureaucracy. ‘Today, I will sign a series of historic executive orders. With these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense. It’s all about common sense,’ Trump said on Monday.
