FELIX NWANERI writes on today’s inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, which marks his return to the White House for a second term
It is exchange of leadership baton in the United States (U.S.) today as President-elect, Donald Trump, takes oath of office to return to the White House.
The 45th president will become the 47th at an inauguration at the U.S. Capitol, the same venue his supporters stormed and ransacked with a goal of stopping the certification of outgoing President Joe Biden’s election on January 6, 2021. Vice-President-elect, JD Vance, will also take the oath of office, joining Trump on stage to officially begin their new administration.
Activities marling today’s inauguration include a formal swearing-in ceremony, musical performances, a celebratory parade and a number of formal balls. Seventy-eight-year-old Trump, who lost to Biden in 2020, defeated his Democrat counterpart, Kamala Harris, in the November 2024 election that shocked bookmakers.
Besides his victory, the Republicans also retook control of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Assassination attempts, criminal convictions and a change in political opponent couldn’t stop Trump from winning the poll. He swept to a decisive victory after winning several crucial battleground states.
Renowned for his unconventional style and getting things done his way, Trump has once again broken tradition by inviting foreign presidents and prime ministers to his inauguration. Among those attending the grand occasion, which is sure to attract global attention are leaders of prominent global powers, key U.S. allies, notable personalities and tech billionaires.
They include Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is expected to send a high-level envoy to represent Beijing. Indian External Affairs Minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, will represent Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whole Argentinian President, Javier Milei, will attend in person. Also invited are Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban; former Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro; Japanese Foreign Minister, Takeshi Iwaya and El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele.
Tech moguls and billionaires attending the even include Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg. Reports say the trio will be seated together on the platform alongside Trump’s cabinet nominees. In a departure from tradition, several former U.S. presidents will also be present.
They are outgoing President Biden, who confirmed his attendance despite the controversy surrounding it. Barack Obama along with George Bush and his wife, Laura are also expected to grace the occasion. Many U.S. senators and House members will also attend, but former first lady, Michelle Obama, will skip the inauguration according to her office.
She has attended every inauguration since that of her husband in 2009, including Trump’s first swearing-in in 2017. Mrs Obama was noticeably absent from a memorial last week for former President Jimmy Carter, remaining instead in Hawaii. After the inaugural address, Trump will head to the President’s Room – near the Senate chamber – to sign key documents.
He will thereafter attend a lunch hosted by the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies. This will be followed by a parade that goes from the Capitol building down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House. Later in the evening, Trump will appear at three inaugural balls – the Commander-in-Chief Ball, the Liberty Inaugural Ball and the Starlight Ball.
He is expected to speak at all three. Country singer and former American Idol winner Carrie Underwood is due to perform “America the Beautiful’ during the ceremony. Also performing are Lee Greenwood – Trump’s long-time friend – and opera singer, Christopher Macchio. Trump stunned the world when he first won the U.S. presidency in 2016. Many didn’t take his first bid for president serious – he was, after all, best known as a businessman and reality TV star.
But, against all odds, he defeated Democrat Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. Secretary of State and wife of ex-President Bill Clinton. Part of his appeal to voters was that he didn’t speak or act like other politicians. And winning the White House the first time did not change that – he fired off tweets at all hours. He was an unconventional and sometimes controversial president.
Tightening immigration was a key campaign promise. He cracked down on travel from several Muslim-majority countries and strengthened part of the U.S. southern border. Trump also made the top court in the U.S. more conservative, withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement and started a trade war with China. His final months in office were dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic. His critics say he heightened divisions over masks, lockdowns and vaccines.
During the campaign for the November election, Trump said he will secure the southern border and enact the biggest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in U.S. history. While measures Trump will deploy to achieve these are likely to be part of the executive orders he is expected to sign today in line with his first-day pledges, undertaking a massive deportation operation will not be that easy.
The U.S. government estimates nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the country, though Trump has said he will “declare a national emergency and will use military assets.” Another of Trump’s first-day pledge is a throwback to his first term in office, when he signed an executive order that became known as the “Muslim ban.”
It restricted entry for travellers seeking to come to the U.S. from several Muslimmajority countries, including Syria, Libya, Yemen and Sudan. The ban faced an avalanche of legal challenges but Trump has pledged to reinstate the ban as well as suspend refugee admissions. “We will ban refugee resettlement from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip, and we will seal our border and bring back the travel ban,” he said in September 2023.
Trump also said he will consider on his first day back in the White House, an executive bill that will restrict who is eligible for U.S. citizenship. Under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, anyone born inside of the country becomes a citizen, regardless of their parent’s status.
But determine d to reverse this, Trump said: “On day one of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that, under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship.”
He also said he will introduce tariff on imported goods to help U.S. firms flourish. On January 14, Trump announced that on inauguration day, he will create an “external revenue service” that will “collect our tariffs, duties and all revenue that come from foreign sources.”
He has also called for a broad tariff programme, including up to 60 per cent on Chinese goods to jumpstart domestic manufacturing, while threatening up to 25 per cent tariffs on Mexico and Canada if they do not do more to prevent border crossings and drug smuggling.
On foreign policy, Trump has promised fewer U.S. military commitments overseas. He has equally been very critical of U.S. aid going to Ukraine since the invasion by Russia. Trump has repeatedly maintained that the wars in Ukraine and Gaza will never have erupted under his watch.
While a ceasefire deal to halt Israel’s campaign in Gaza was reached just days before Trump’s inauguration, fighting continues in Ukraine, where Russia launched a fullscale invasion in 2022. But Trump has pledged to bring that conflict to a swift end during his second term. During a CNN town hall in May 2023, Trump said the war would be “absolutely over” within “24 hours” of him taking office.
On the Russia-Ukrainian war, Trump said he will meet with Russian President, Vladimir Putin “very quickly” upon taking office. It is expected that he will pressurize Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to make a deal happen, prompting concerns that could spell concessions to Moscow.
The fourth of five children, Trump was born in Queens, New York, in 1946 to Scottish mother Mary Anne MacLeod and Fred Trump, the son of German immigrants. His father was a real estate tycoon in New York and his son’s inspiration. He joined the family business and became its president in 1971.
In the 1980s, his business invested in several big real estate projects in New York, including Manhattan glass skyscraper, Trump Tower. As his real-estate empire grew, so did his celebrity status, helped by his 1987 book: “The Art of The Deal.” In 1988, Forbes magazine estimated his net worth to be $1 billion. He’s been down the aisle three times and has five children. He had three children – Donald Jr, Ivanka and Eric – with his first wife Ivana.
His second marriage to actress Marla Maples came two months after the birth of their daughter, Tiffany. Trump married Slovenian model Melania Knauss, his current wife and the former first lady, in 2005. The couple have an 18-year-old son, Barron. Trump has made several on-screen cameo appearances, including in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Home Alone 2. However, The Apprentice – which he hosted from 2004 to 2015 – made him a household name.
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