By Mackenzie Davis
On Tuesday, Jan. 20, President Donald Trump stepped up to the podium to give his second inauguration speech in eight years, now as the United States 47th president. Referring to his next four years in office as the “Golden Age of America” Trump described his plans to create a “flourishing” and “respected” country once again.
As former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris sat close in the audience, Trump talked about the shortcomings of the out-going administration and the changes he plans on making with a slight reference to the following Jan. 6 pardons.
“Our sovereignty will be reclaimed, our safety will be restored, the scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the justice department in our government will end,” Trump said during Monday’s address.
Some believe that Trump’s reform of the justice department is anything but after the president’s mercy for rioters who committed violent crimes at the capital in 2021. Republican Senator from Maine, Susan Collins, commented on this in an interview with the New York Times on Jan. 21 saying, “‘…there is a great difference between violent crimes and nonviolent crimes. I do not support pardons given to people who engaged in violence on Jan. 6, including assaulting police officers, or breaking windows to get into the capitol, for example.’”
Trump didn’t let the celebration of his inauguration pass without mentioning the national holiday that it coincided with.
“Today is Martin Luther King Day and his honor—this will be a great honor—but in his honor we will strive together to make his dream a reality. We will make his dream come true.”
This honorable mention was right before Trump signed executive orders to revoke diversity, equity and inclusion guidelines at the federal level. Former U.S. ambassador, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, who served as the first DEIA officer in the U.S. State Department for two years, told NPR on Jan, 21, “I believe too many people misunderstood and worked from fear and responded with fear, thinking that DEIA was simply to put another group at the top of the pyramid. DEIA is designed to level the playing field to ensure that merit-based decisions and merit-based advancement is what happens in federal agencies.”
Outside of the promises of sending astronauts to Mars and changing Mount Denali’s name, after President Obama had changed it in 2015 at the request to honor its rightful name given by the Alaska Koyukon Athabascans, here were the four main topics that stood out in Trump’s inauguration speech.
The Border Crisis and military change
Declaring a national emergency at the southern border was Trump’s first solution to the U.S. and Southern America’s border crisis. Following this, he plans to send troops to the border, designate cartels as foreign terrorists and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
“All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came,” Trump said.
The American Immigration Council released a fact sheet on Oct. 17, 2024, stating that according to their research immigrants, both documented and undocumented, are less likely to commit crimes than citizens born in the United States.
He also plans to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy, which mandates that asylum seekers must remain in Mexico while waiting for their chance to speak in the U.S. immigration court.
On Jan. 8, an NBC article reporting on Trump’s new plans for immigration quoted Veronica Escobar, Democrat Rep. for El Paso, Texas, who understands that Trump will have to work with Democrats if he wants any real legislative action to reform immigration laws.
“The reality is we still need immigration reform and we need immigrants in this country, and no amount of demonizing them will change that fact,’” Escobar said to NBC News. “‘We have an aging population. Families are not as large as they used to be. We need immigrants of all skill sets.”
Members of the military who were expelled for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine will also be reinstated and paid for their time away under the Trump administration.
“Our armed forces will be free to focus on their sole mission—defeating America’s enemies,” Trump said. “Like in 2017, we will again build the strongest military the world has ever seen.”
Inflation
To protect American workers and their families from inflation due to “overspending and escalating energy prices,” Trump said. “America will be a manufacturing nation once again and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have: The largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth and we are going to use it.”
Declaring a national energy emergency for these increasing prices and drilling for more oil is the solution for inflation, according to Trump.
When asked about Trump’s plans to open up drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, executive director of Gwich’in steering committee, Kristen Moreland, told Bloomberg News, “Our way of life, our food security and our spiritual well-being is directly tied to the health of the caribou and the health of this irreplaceable landscape. Every oil company stayed away from the first lease sale, and we expect them to do the same during the second.”
The External Revenue Service will be put in charge of implementing tariffs for imports from other countries which Trump says will bring in “…massive amounts of money.”
In a press release, responding to Trump’s planned tariffs, on Jan. 15, Rep. Susan DelBene said, “‘The American people have clearly and consistently said that the high cost of living is one of their top concerns. Imposing sweeping tariffs on imported goods would raise prices on consumer products by thousands of dollars a year. Not only would widespread tariffs drive up costs at home and likely send our economy into recession, but they would likely lead to significant retaliation, hurting American workers, farmers, and businesses.’”
Trump also proposed ending the Green New Deal and revoking the electrical vehicle mandate as the solution for lowering taxes for Americans.
Race, Gender and Censorship
The president briefly mentioned his plans to stop the involvement of gender and race in Americans’ everyday lives.
“We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based,” Trump said. “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States Government that there are only two genders: Male and Female.”
The executive order issuing these two gender regulations states “Accordingly, my Administration will defend women’s rights and protect freedom of conscience by using clear and accurate language and policies that recognize women are biologically female, and men are biologically male.”
In the inaugural prayer service on Tuesday, Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde shared her thoughts with the president at the end of her sermon.
“I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families, some who fear for their lives,” Budde said.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shared her reason for absence at Trump’s inauguration in a video posted to Tik Tok on Sunday, Jan. 19. The representative of New York is found saying, “Let me make myself clear, I don’t celebrate rapists. So no, I’m not going to the inauguration tomorrow.”
Another change Trump briefly mentioned included “…signing an executive order to stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”
Big corporations already seem to be following this order, such as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg who announced two weeks ago that he would be ending fact-checking on his popular social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.
Taking back the Panama Canal and the Gulf of America
Having been ratified in 1978 under the Carter administration, the Torrijos-Carter Treaties gave Panama the eventual control of the canal in Dec. 1999. In his inaugural address, Trump declared that the United States would be taking this canal back during his four-year term.
“The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated. American ships are being severely overcharged, and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form and that includes the U.S. Navy. Above all China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn’t give it to China, we gave it to Panama and were taking it back.”
In his Jan. 7 press conference at his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, Trump said he wouldn’t rule out using military or economic coercion to take back the Panama Canal.
“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. That’s what I want to be. A peacemaker and a unifier,” Trump said towards the end of his inauguration speech.
The president also mentioned changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico, which has had its name for four centuries, to the Gulf of America.
In his closing statements, Trump encompassed the great achievements taken by our once foreigner-ancestors talking about the creation of America’s republic, the expansion to the west over “…rugged land of untamed wilderness,” channeling electricity and lifting billions from poverty. The president talked about the power of unity in a country and the unlimited possibilities that Americans can accomplish if we work together.
“…We will stand bravely, we will live proudly, we will dream boldly and nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans,” Trump said. “The future is ours and our golden age has just begun. Thank you and God bless America.”
