Trump gives his inaugural address ©Sipa USA/SIPA USA/PA Images
Donald J Trump has been sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.
Today, at 5pm GMT, on a platform outside the US Capitol shared with, among others, Barack and Michelle Obama, along with now Vice President Mike Pence, Trump took the presidential oath.
The swearing in comes after one of the most controversial transition periods in presidential history, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin was accused of interfering in the election—in Trump’s favour. Luke Harding explains the controversy in full in our new issue.
His speech, given immediately after the oath, has been interpreted by commentators as doubling down on the populist rhetoric used during his presidential campaign. “People of the world, thank you,” Trump began. “We are transferring power from Washington DC and giving it back to you, the people… The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”
In a nod to those watching from Trump’s post-industrial political heartlands, he talked of “factories scattered like tombstones” across the country. The promise to restore US manufacturing was a core plank of his campaign—the disenchantment experienced by jobless whites was written about in our November issue by Diane Roberts.
Trump continued: “The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and redistributed all across the world…
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