Says he is restoring power back from Washington to people and “Together we will make America Great again”
Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States Friday, January 20, as he was administered oath of office at a ceremony at the Capitol Hill. The oath was administered by the US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts at 12 pm.
An estimated around 800,000 guests attended the inaugural ceremonies – a number far below the crowd that came out for President Obama’s first inaugural.
The 70-year-old billionaire was joined by his wife and children.
Also on hand were three of the four living former presidents George W Bush, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama, members of the Supreme Court and leaders of Congress. In addition, his Democratic rival in the election, Hillary Clinton was in attendance.
In his inaugural speech as president Trump thanked outgoing president Obama for ensuring ‘A gracious transition.’ But his speech was almost copied from his many election campaign speeches.
“January 20, 2017, people of America became the rulers of the country again. This is the transition of power from DC to you – you the people. Now government will be controlled by our people. The world has never seen this before”, said Trump.
Here is look at the electoral promises that Trump reassured in his first presidential speech:
Will put our interest first
Will bring back our jobs
Will protect our border first
Rebuild America with American hands and labor
Will change education system
Will make sure that people buy American and hire American
Will eradicate Islamic terrorism
Trump concluded his speech by saying “We’ll make America strong again, wealthy again, proud again, safe again, and great again.” Only time will say how he will do that.
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But Trump took over as President without his complete team. Various important offices in State Department and the all important intelligence agencies look for askance.
The three days of inaugural festivities kicked off Thursday. Trump left his Trump-branded jet in New York and flew to Washington in a government plane, saluting an Air Force officer as he descended the steps with his wife, Melania. He and the incoming vice president, Mike Pence, solemnly laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery before joining supporters for an evening concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
Cheerful Trump supporters flocked to the nation’s capital for the inaugural festivities, some wearing red hats emblazoned with his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
Trump tweeted Friday morning, “It all begins today! I will see you at 11:00 A.M. for the swearing-in.
THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES – THE WORK BEGINS!“
On Friday morning, Trump, Vice President-elect Mike Pence and their families attended services at St. John’s Episcopal Church near the White House, a precedent set by Franklin D. Roosevelt and followed by every president since.
The president-in-waiting then arrived at the White House for tea with President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. Before welcoming his successor, Obama took a final stroll from the Oval Office through the Rose Garden as a sitting president.
Donald Trump scored an upset win in 2016 elections. With a clear victory in sight for Hillary Clinton at one point of time, a couple of factors weighed in his favor in the ultimate upset results to give him presidency.
Trump won the White House on promises: Deporting immigrants, Banning and surveilling Muslims, building a wall at US-Mexico border, bringing back water boarding, making it easier to sue the press.
Donald Trump, probably takes over as the least popular incumbent to the White House because of his treatment of women, minorities and the disabled during the campaign He takes over control of the most powerful nation of the world with a lot of baggage which is likely to impede his movement forward.
Americans have never handed their highest office to a businessman with no experience in public service. Trump, the real estate mogul and reality television star is the only president to break away from the tradition of President divesting himself from his business interests. “The law’s totally on my side ? meaning, the president can’t have a conflict of interest,” Trump has said, dismissing warnings from a government ethics watchdog and experts with experience under Republican and Democratic presidents who have charged that his business entanglements will find him in violation of his oath from the very moment he takes it.
This is a serious issue; some ethics experts point out.
“There’s an issue about whether the president and his family will use the presidency for self-enrichment,” says Robert Weissman, president of the advocacy group Public Citizen in an interview with NPR. “The most important part of the problem is how these conflicts will affect policy-making. That is an inescapable and pervasive problem. It doesn’t matter whether Donald Trump is operating in good faith. So long as he has these conflicts, he can’t not know what he owns and he also can’t not know how policy decisions will affect his businesses.”
Trump has indicated he will continue to own his many U.S. and foreign businesses, and has rejected calls to sell them and said that he will hand them over to his sons to manage – which falls well short of addressing the ethical conundrum he faces. “Stepping back from running his positions is meaningless from a conflicts of interest perspective. Nothing short of divestiture will resolve these conflicts,” Walter Shaub, director of the Office of Government Ethics, said earlier this month.
For full text of Trump’s inauguration speech, click here
View Trump’s inauguration speech