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Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
No one has ever accused Donald Trump of consistency. Immediately after being sworn in, he promised to bring peace to the world, recapture the Panama Canal, and expand America’s territory. The latter sounded more like a declaration of war—a first in US inaugural address history. The trick, as always with Trump, is to determine what he meant from mere rhetoric.
His image of a new golden age was very different from 2017 when he spoke of “American carnage.” But this round of his speech took more concrete steps, including territorial aggression against America’s neighbors, US troops on the Mexican border, the start of mass deportations of illegal immigrants, the end of electric car subsidies and a new era of “drill baby drills.” ” These should be taken seriously.
The vibes in the Capitol Rotunda also spoke volumes. To say Trump’s second inauguration was unprecedented would be an understatement. Surrounded by the world’s richest men, with wealth north of a trillion dollars, topped by Elon Musk ($434 billion), Jeff Bezos ($240 billion) and Mark Zuckerberg ($212 billion), Trump’s comeback was blessed by outgoing President Joe Biden calling the new oligarchy. .
Never before has a president who is also a billionaire shouldered such wealth at an inauguration. Trump is using his return to boost his wealth. In the days leading up to the inauguration, he promptly added billions to his paper wealth by launching a meme currency called “$Trump.” His wife, Melania, followed suit with her own crypto offering. He also made a bid for the US to take a 50 percent stake in Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, whose congressional ban was upheld by the Supreme Court last week. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was also there.
contrast between Trump And his predecessors Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Biden signaled a regime change rather than a simple transfer of power. They listened in thinly disguised awe as Trump laid out an agenda that would undo virtually everything they stood for — whether Bush was a Republican or Biden was a Democrat. Earlier in the day, Biden called Trump “welcome home” as he welcomed him to the White House. He also preemptively pardoned former government officials and members of his own family, a reprisal that Trump repeated in his speech. The event was held in a room that four years ago Trump supporters claim stole the 2020 election.
Besides promising he would plant the Stars and Stripes on Mars, Trump said God saved him from an assassin’s bullet last July so he could make America great again. After Trump finished speaking in 2017, Bush turned to Clinton and said “this is some weird stuff”. It was unclear whether Bush had any words to describe Trump’s second inauguration on Monday.
