B A L O C H I S T A N T I M E S

l o a d i n g

Donald Trump sworn in as 47th US president

21-01-2025

Monitoring Desk WASHINGTON: Donald Trump was sworn in Monday as the 47th president of the United States, returning to the White House after overcoming four criminal indictments and two assassination attempts in one of the most remarkable political comebacks in U.S. history. Trump recited the oath of office shortly after noon ET at an intimate inauguration ceremony inside the Rotunda of the Capitol, the same building a mob of his supporters stormed four years ago to try to stop the certification of Trump’s 2020 election loss. It was moved indoors because of below-freezing in the nation’s capital. The 78-year-old Trump raised his right hand and took the oath of office using a Bible his mother gave him in 1955 that was stacked on a second Bible used by President Abraham Lincoln for his 1861 swearing-in. JD Vance was sworn in as vice president before Trump. The new president, who arrived at the Capitol to applause and chants of “USA! USA! USA!” replaces Joe Biden in the nation’s highest office. “The golden age of America begins right now,” Trump said at the beginning of his second inaugural address. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer during every single day of the Trump administration.” Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump holds the Bible during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. In prime seating behind Trump on stage were Trump’s and Vance’s family members, the president’s Cabinet nominees and billionaire executives including Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. Opera singer Christopher Macchio sang “Oh, America!” before Trump took the stage. Trump is the just the second former president to return to office after losing an election, joining Grover Cleveland who arrived back in the White House for his second term in 1893. Trump is the first formerly impeached president to return to office, first convicted felon to serve as president and the oldest president on Inauguration Day. Trump’s return to power marks a seismic change across the federal government. He enters claiming an election “mandate” to enact sweeping changes after winning every battleground state and the popular vote. The new Trump era is expected to be even more aggressive than the president’s tumultuous first four years in office, when he was twice impeached but acquitted by the Senate. Trump has promised a new “golden age” in the U.S. after campaigning on big promises in his election victory over Democrat Kamala Harris to root out the so-called “deep state” from the federal government, begin mass deportations of immigrants in the country illegally and undo Biden’s policies on climate, energy, transgender rights, cryptocurrency and a host of other areas. Trump and his advisers have said the new president will take more than 100 executive actions ‒ described by allies as “shock and awe” ‒ during his first days in office with a focus on “sealing” the U.S.-Mexico border and levying new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.