Trump Sworn In, Outlines Agenda to Reshape America

47th US President Declares 'Golden Age of America Begins Right Now'

- Bhagyashree Garekar

WASHINGTON - Mr. Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th United States President amid widespread expectations that he would reshape America with a far-reaching domestic and foreign policy agenda.

Sunny but sub-zero weather forced his Jan. 20 swearing-in ceremony indoors to the Capitol Rotunda, and the traditional pomp-filled inaugural parade was replaced by an event at a downtown sports arena.

The last time the weather intervened was when President Ronald Reagan was sworn in for a second time in 1985, a happy parallel with a Republican leader celebrated as one of the greats by party orthodoxy.

The "golden age of America begins right now," he said in his inaugural address.

"From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world," he said.

At 78, Mr. Trump became the oldest president to take office. His journey to the White House was paved with a win in the electoral college as well as the popular vote in the Nov. 5 election, after having escaped two assassination attempts.

Twice impeached in his first term (2017-2021), he is the only US president to enter office with criminal indictments.

At the start of his campaign in 2023, he was arrested, fingerprinted, and photographed over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

His "mugshot" picture became an early hit with his Make America Great Again movement, which is widely anticipating that he will live up to his promise to fix America first and eschew wars abroad.

He comes to office with his Republican Party gaining a majority in both houses of Congress and a conservative-dominated Supreme Court to support his populist and nationalistic agenda. Unlike his first term, his second did not begin with widespread activist protests in the capital.