Donald Trump is sworn in as USA's 45th President; Trump's inaugural speech

Last updated on 26th Jan. 2017

I saw the swearing in ceremony of Donald Trump as USA's 45th President on an ABC news Live Stream youtube video. It was a nice ceremony highlighting the peaceful transfer of power in the USA. It was nice to see that Hillary Clinton attended the ceremony along with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Former presidents George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter were also present.

Donald Trump Is Sworn In as President, Capping His Swift Ascent, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/us/politics/trump-inauguration-day.html, Jan. 20th 2017.

A short extract from it:

Donald John Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States on Friday, ushering in a new and more unpredictable era in which he vowed to shatter the established order and restore American greatness.
-- end extract --

Donald Trump is sworn in as president, vows to end ‘American carnage’, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-to-be-sworn-in-marking-a-transformative-shift-in-the-countrys-leadership/2017/01/20/954b9cac-de7d-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_story.html, Jan 20th 2017.

A short extract from it:

Trump began his inaugural address by proclaiming that with his victory, “the United States of America is your country.” With now former president Obama and three previous presidents watching from behind him, Trump seemed to condemn them as unfaithful to the popular will, saying that his inauguration signaled that “the people” would rule the country again.
--- end extract ---

Transcripts of USA President Trump's inaugural speech are available here:
a) Donald Trump’s Inaugural Speech, Annotated, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/20/us/politics/donald-trump-inauguration-speech-transcript.html has fact-check type annotations of Trump's inaugural speech.

b) Donald Trump inauguration speech: Read the full transcript, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-inauguration-speech-transcript-text-full-read-a7538131.html

c) Inaugural address: Trump's full speech (as prepared for delivery), http://edition.cnn.com/2017/01/20/politics/trump-inaugural-address/index.html

Ravi: Large extracts of the speech are given below:

USA President Donald Trump: Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans, and people of the world: Thank you.

We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people.

Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for years to come.
...
Today's ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another -- but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the American People.

For too long, a small group in our nation's Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished -- but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered -- but the jobs left, and the factories closed.

The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

That all changes -- starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.
...
What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20th 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.
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Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are the just and reasonable demands of a righteous public.

But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
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For many decades, we've enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military; we've defended other nation's borders while refusing to defend our own; and spent trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.

We've made other countries rich while the wealth, strength, and confidence of our country has disappeared over the horizon.

One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions upon millions of American workers left behind.

The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed across the entire world.

But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future. We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power.

From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land.

From this moment on, it's going to be America First.

Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.

I will fight for you with every breath in my body -- and I will never, ever let you down.
America will start winning again, winning like never before.
...
We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.

We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation.

We will get our people off of welfare and back to work -- rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.

We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and hire American.

We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world -- but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.

We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example for everyone to follow.

We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones -- and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.

At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.
...
We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action -- constantly complaining but never doing anything about it.

The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action.

Do not let anyone tell you it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of America.

We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again.

We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.

A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.

It is time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget: that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American Flag.
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And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.

So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words:

You will never be ignored again.

Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.

Together, We will make America strong again.

We will make wealthy again.

We will make America proud again.

We will make America safe again.

And yes, together, we will make America great again. Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America.
--- end large extracts of USA President Trump's inaugural speech ---

Ravi: I wish USA President Trump all the very best in his efforts to improve the lives of the American people.
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The New York Times editorial board wrote a very critical article on USA President Trump's inaugural speech: What President Trump Doesn’t Get About America, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/20/opinion/what-president-trump-doesnt-get-about-america.html, Jan. 20th 2017

The opening sentence of the article is, "President Trump presented such a graceless and disturbingly ahistoric vision of America on Friday that his Inaugural Address cast more doubt than hope on his presidency." Another sentence from it, "One longed, as Mr. Trump spoke, for a special kind of simultaneous translation, one that would convert Trumpian myth into concrete fact."
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Yesterday (23rd Jan 2017) The Hindu had an editorial on Trump's inauguration speech, America’s era of anger, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/editorial/America%E2%80%99s-era-of-anger/article17078531.ece. A couple of sentences from it are given below:

".. the Trump team is likely to pursue a hardline social conservative agenda buttressed by economic protectionism and passionate nationalism."

 (and the concluding sentence of the article)

"He [Trump] has unleashed forces of extreme nationalism which many hoped belonged to a bygone era."
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Yesterday (25th Jan. 2017) The Hindu had a, relevant to this post, op-ed article, Navigating a Trumpian world, http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/Navigating-a-Trumpian-world/article17089447.ece, by Rakesh Sood who is a former Indian diplomat (ambassador) and currently Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, http://www.orfonline.org/people-expert/rakesh-sood/. Ambassador Sood says that Trump becoming USA president adds to other tides of change underway in the world, and marks 2017 as the beginning of a new age of uncertainty. Sood writes of a return to nationalism in this 21st century with 24/7 news and social media pushing populist leaders (riding the wave of nationalism to power) to stake positions from which retreat is difficult. He writes of a post-truth world where the difference between half-truths and lies gets blurred.

[I thank USA President Trump (and cnn.com), washingtonpost.com, nytimes.com and thehindu.com, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extracts from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]

Please note that I have a PUBLICLY NEUTRAL informal-student-observer role in these posts that I put up about the USA presidential elections. Of course, as I am an Indian citizen living in India, there is no question of me having voted in these elections.