Trump vows golden age for US built on oil and tariffs

Returning president tells inauguration crowds in Washington that he was saved by God to make America great again’

- DAVID MADDOX

Donald Trump boasted his second term in office marks the beginning of "a golden age" for the United States and declared that God had saved him from an assassin’s bullet “to make America great again”.

In a characteristically bombastic speech from the Capitol in Washington DC, the 47th president of the United States laid out a radical right-wing domestic and foreign agenda. Surrounded by members of Congress, former presidents and Supreme Court justices, he pledged: “Every single day ... I will very simply put America first.”

He vowed to strip out diversity measures and federal protections for minorities, adding that his government would “only recognise two genders”. And he scrapped net zero policies in favour of stockpiling American oil, urging energy giants to “drill baby, drill!” for what he called “liquid gold”.

It followed his official swearing-in – an event brought inside because of the bitterly cold temperatures – that contained the usual dignity and pageantry of the inauguration. But his speech, more suited to a campaign rally, quickly turned against many of those listening in the room.

Present were not only America’s political elite but also politicians from around the world including populist allies Nigel Farage and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni, as well as former Tory prime minister Boris Johnson.

Leaders of America’s new tech industry also came to pay homage, including Elon Musk who helped him win the election and who cheered when Mr Trump promised to plant the stars and stripes on Mars, a project championed by the X/Twitter owner.