On the historic first day of his second term in office, President Donald Trump laid out his vision for a bolder and bigger United States.
“The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, increasing our wealth, expanding our territory, building our cities, raising our expectations,” he said in his inaugural address on Monday. And carries our flag to new and beautiful horizons.” “And we will pursue our manifest destiny in the stars, by launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on Mars.”
Then he got to work signing a stack of executive orders. He said they include declaring a national emergency at the southern border that would allow the deployment of troops, and a national energy emergency that would allow more domestic oil and gas. Extraction. He also declared that there are only two genders, male and female, and said that he would order that the Gulf of Mexico be renamed the Gulf of Mexico.
Historians say Trump made history on his second day in office by using a historically unified speech to paint a picture of the future, which many Americans may disagree with.
“Donald Trump didn’t do that. It was one of the most partisan presidential inaugural speeches ever — it was less of an inaugural address and more of a State of the Union speech. He simply listed a series of bullet points of projects he was planning to pursue from the get-go. “Immigrants are coming to take over the Panama Canal,” said Jeremy Suri, a history professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Shortly after his inauguration speech, Trump spoke to a small group of supporters at the Capitol and repeated claims that the 2020 election was “completely rigged” — a claim without evidence. He also pardoned some of those convicted for the violent events of January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters attempted to disrupt the certification of the election that Trump had lost.
“I think that was a better speech than the one I gave above, okay?” Trump said.
Some powerful supporters of Trump expressed happiness.
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was among the billionaires who gathered at the Capitol for the ceremony and cheered Trump’s victory. After Trump was sworn in, Musk came to the rally stage at Capital One Arena to praise him.
“This was no ordinary victory,” he said. “It was a thorn in the side of human civilization.”
Consumer advocacy groups are raising concerns about some of the new president’s quieter moves, saying they are trying to loosen regulations and benefit the extremely wealthy.
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Publix, said, “When we think about why the incoming Trump administration wants to gut regulations and gut public protections, it’s the wealthiest among us, the corporate It’s at the behest of special interests.” citizen. “They are the ones who benefit when there are no guardrails on our books.”
Trump did not directly address foreign policy concerns such as Ukraine and competition with China on Monday — but Suri said his expansionist rhetoric sent a message.
“It’s hard for the United States to tell [Russian President] Vladimir Putin or [Chinese President] Xi Jinping said that when our President is talking about expansion he should not seek expansion, but as far as we do not follow that rhetoric, we are still on a very strong basis to say that Invade your neighbor, as Putin has done in Ukraine, or as China could potentially do in Taiwan, that is verboten, that crosses the line, as long as it is just words on our part,’ ‘ he said. “If we go to war to try to seize the Panama Canal, it will certainly give a kind of carte blanche to Putin and Xi Jinping, as they make similar arguments for Ukraine and Taiwan.”