Donald Trump, at the height of his political power, became president of the United States on Monday for the second time.
• Also read: LIVE | Inauguration Day of Donald Trump, elected 47th President of the United States
• Also read: Attack on the Capitol: Biden pardons elected officials and civil servants
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“America’s golden age begins,” the Republican said in his first speech as the 47th president.
Minutes earlier, he had raised his right hand and vowed to “protect the Constitution” under the dome of the Capitol, the very site his supporters stormed on January 6, 2021 to prevent the certification of Joe’s election Biden.
The Republican billionaire, who defeated Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris on November 5, is now at 78 years old the oldest American head of state ever inaugurated.
This oath concludes the most extraordinary political comeback in recent American history, that of a former president who never recognized his defeat in 2020, who cries for “revenge” against his adversaries, who was criminally convicted, who was targeted this summer by two assassination attempts, and who led a campaign of staggering rhetorical violence, peppered with racist and sexist remarks.
His democratic predecessor, who is concluding half a century of political life, organized a smooth transition of power to this man who constantly humiliated him.
Graces
“Welcome home,” Joe Biden said earlier when receiving Donald Trump, accompanied by his wife Melania Trump, for a final courtesy visit to the White House.
AFP
Normality is only a facade, because the 82-year-old Democrat also took, a few minutes before ceding power, an absolutely unprecedented decision.
He in fact pardoned, in a preventive manner, the closest members of his family, for fear that they would be the object of a legal vendetta by the Republicans.
AFP
Unlike the Republican, who had shunned his inauguration, the 46th Democratic president had taken his place in the vast marble-paved room, the cathedral of American political life.
Alongside him are former American presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, but also multi-billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, the now essential Elon Musk, as well as far-right leaders and personalities invited in a personal capacity.
The inauguration ceremony usually takes place outdoors, but the protocol was turned upside down due to the freezing temperatures.
In the process, Donald Trump must sign a first round of decrees.
“The decline of America is over,” assured the Republican after taking the oath. A decline caused according to him, in the first place, by an “invasion” of migrants as well as by progressive ideas, which he describes with the pejorative term “woke” ideology.
For example, he will declare a state of emergency on the border with Mexico and mobilize the army there.
He who had promised to put an end to the “transgender delirium” will also order “recognition” of the existence of only “two sexes” by the federal state, senior officials of his future administration said.
Announcements on energy and the environment are also expected, as well as pardons for the Capitol attackers convicted following January 6, 2021.
Return without concussion
Throughout his campaign, Donald Trump promised to take “revenge” on his political opponents.
Faced with this threat, Joe Biden, a few hours before leaving power, and before doing the same for his family, had decided to grant preventive pardons to a series of “servants of the State” risking “legal proceedings unjustified.
Among them, former chief of staff of the armed forces Mark Milley, virulent critic of Donald Trump, doctor Anthony Fauci, in the sights of Trumpists for having orchestrated the American response to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as parliamentarians who investigated the assault on the Capitol.
Donald Trump’s first term was a succession of internal political crises and diplomatic clashes.
Nothing says that his second presidency will be more controlled, but his return to power is taking place without the commotion caused by his victory in 2016.
Donald Trump has, in four years, locked the Republican Party. He can rely on a slim majority in Congress and a Supreme Court anchored to the right.
He has surrounded himself with people loyal to the government, has received the allegiance of the biggest bosses, and few foreign leaders risk openly criticizing him.
