Donald Trump pledged to rescue America from what he described as years of betrayal and decline after he was sworn in as president on Monday, prioritizing a crackdown on illegal immigration and portraying himself as a national saviour chosen by God.

“For American citizens, January 20, 2025, is Liberation Day,” Trump, 78, said inside the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol, the symbol of U.S. democracy that was invaded on Jan. 6, 2021, by a mob of Trump supporters intent on reversing his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden.

The half-hour speech echoed some of the themes he sounded at his first inauguration in 2017, when he spoke of the “American carnage” of crime and job loss that he said had ravaged the country.

The inauguration completes a triumphant return for a political disruptor who was twice impeached, survived two assassination attempts, was convicted in a criminal trial and faced charges for attempting to overturn his 2020 election loss. He is the first president in more then a century to win a second term after losing the White House.

“I was saved by God to make America great again,” Trump said, referring to the assassin’s bullet that grazed his ear in July.

Trump is the first felon to serve as president after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records to cover up hush money paid to a porn star.

“Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” he said. “I stand before you now as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do in America. The impossible is what we do best.”

While Trump sought to portray himself as a peacemaker and unifier, his speech was often sharply partisan. He repeated false claims from his campaign that other countries were emptying their prisons into America and voiced familiar and unfounded grievances over his criminal prosecutions.

With Biden seated nearby, affecting a polite smile, Trump issued a stinging indictment of his predecessor’s policies from immigration to foreign affairs and outlined a raft of executive actions aimed at blocking border crossings, ending federal diversity programs and overhauling international trade.

“First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border,” he said. “All illegal entry will be immediately halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.”

Numerous tech executives who have sought to curry favor with the incoming administration – including the three richest men in the world, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg – had prominent seats on stage, next to cabinet nominees and members of Trump’s family.

Trump said he would send astronauts to plant the U.S. flag on Mars, prompting Musk – who has long talked about colonizing the planet – to throw his hands up in celebration.

Trump vowed to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and repeated his intention to take back control of the Panama Canal, one of several foreign policy pronouncements that have caused consternation among U.S. allies.

TRIUMPHANT RETURN

Following his address, Trump stopped by the Capitol’s visitor center and delivered an even longer, informal speech to supporters reminiscent of his freewheeling campaign rallies.

In the later remarks, Trump struck a sharply different tone, voicing suspicion about election processes, calling people charged with taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack “hostages” and suggesting the congressional probe into his actions around that day was illegal.

“I think this was a better speech than the one I made upstairs,” Trump said.

Trump took the oath of office to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution at 12:01 p.m. ET (1701 GMT), administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. His vice president, JD Vance, was sworn in just before him.

Outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Trump in November, was seated next to Biden in a section with former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost to Trump in 2016, arrived with her husband Bill, but Obama’s wife, Michelle, chose not to attend.

The ceremony was moved indoors due to the extreme cold gripping much of the country.

Trump skipped Biden’s inauguration and has continued to claim falsely that the 2020 election he lost to Biden was rigged.

Biden, in one of his last official acts, pardoned several people whom Trump has threatened with retaliation, including former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci, former Republican U.S. Representative Liz Cheney and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. He also pardoned five family members just minutes before leaving office, citing fears that Trump would target them.

Trump acknowledged he was taking office on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and said he would work to honor the civil rights leader’s legacy. At the same time, he said he would issue orders to scrap federal diversity programs and require the government to recognize only genders assigned at birth.

“As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female,” Trump said, as Democratic U.S. Representative Sarah McBride, the first transgender person to serve in Congress, quietly smiled in the audience.

Trump will not immediately impose new tariffs, instead directing federal agencies to evaluate trade relationships with Canada, China and Mexico, a Trump official said, an unexpected development that unleashed a broad slide in the U.S. dollar and a rally in global stock markets on a day when U.S. financial markets were closed.

Some of the executive orders are likely to face legal challenges.

DISRUPTIVE FORCE

As he did in 2017, Trump enters office as a disruptive force, vowing to remake the federal government and expressing deep skepticism about the U.S.-led alliances that have shaped post-World War Two global politics.

Police separated a group of 40 supporters of the militant far-right group the Proud Boys, backers of Trump whose former leader Enrique Tarrio was among those imprisoned for Jan. 6, and a dozen counter protesters in downtown DC.

“Whose streets? Our streets,” the Proud Boys chanted as several protesters aimed loud speakers playing sirens at them. Each side shouted expletives at the other

He returns to Washington emboldened after winning the national popular vote over Harris by more than 2 million votes thanks to a groundswell of voter frustration over persistent inflation, though he still fell just short of a 50% majority.

Trump, who surpassed Biden as the oldest president ever to be sworn in, will enjoy Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress. His advisers have outlined plans to replace nonpartisan bureaucrats with hand-picked loyalists.

Trump’s influence was already felt in the Israel-Hamas announcement last week of a ceasefire deal. Trump, whose envoy joined the negotiations in Qatar, had warned of “hell to pay” if Hamas did not release its hostages before the inauguration.

Unlike in 2017, when he filled many top jobs with institutionalists, Trump has prioritized fealty over experience in nominating a bevy of controversial cabinet picks, some of whom are outspoken critics of the agencies they have been tapped to lead.

Even as he prepared to retake office, Trump continued to expand his business ventures, raising billions in market value by launching a “meme coin” crypto token that prompted ethical and regulatory questions.

The inauguration took place amid heavy security after a campaign highlighted by an increase in political violence.

The traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House was moved indoors to the Capital One Arena, where Trump held a victory rally on Sunday.

-Reuters