President Donald Trump takes office for second time, promises that 'America's decline is over'

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump promised to usher in a "golden age of America" as he took the oath of office Monday for a second time and became the nation’s 47th president.

Trump, speaking from inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda at an inauguration ceremony reconfigured due to freezing temperatures, laid out his vision for the next four years and vowed to act swiftly to undo the policies of his predecessor, former President Joe Biden.

"My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place," Trump said. "To give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and, indeed, their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over."

Trump’s second inaugural address offered some brighter imagery than his first address in 2017 — when he described a nation besieged by "American carnage." This time he praised a nation brimming in "sunlight" and "exceptionalism."

But he also talked of a nation in "disrepair," grappling with a surge in mass migration, and a "crisis of trust" in government institutions. 

"We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad," Trump said as Biden and Trump's 2024 Democratic opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, sat feet away. 

The more than 600 guests crowded into the Rotunda for the ceremony included not only lawmakers, but some of Trump’s newfound supporters from Silicon Valley — Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos all sat among Trump’s VIP guests. New York City Mayor Eric Adams was among the 1,800 individuals invited to sit an overflow room in the Capitol's Emancipation Hall.

Trump declared his second inauguration as "Liberation Day," and promised to quickly sign a number of executive orders aimed at curbing illegal immigration. Among his promises, Trump said he would restore the controversial "Remain in Mexico" policy that forced asylum-seekers at the southern border to await their U.S. immigration court hearings in Mexico, and he announced his administration would designate drug cartels "as foreign terrorist organizations."

"With these actions we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense," Trump said.

Trump laid out some of the challenges his incoming administration faces, including bringing down prices and rebuilding in the wake of fires in California and flooding in North Carolina.

But other challenges were left unsaid. He must try to pass his agenda through a Republican controlled Congress with a razor-thin majority in the House, leaving him little room for defections, as congressional Democrats vow to push back against most parts of his agenda.

Promising quick action

Trump — only the second reelected U.S. president to not serve consecutive terms — vowed to take action on a number of hot button cultural issues that were a key part of his campaign messaging. In a move decried by advocates for transgendered individuals, he declared the U.S. government would only recognize the genders of male and female, and he would do away with policies focused on "race and gender."

Trump, whose inauguration landed on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, gave a nod to the slain civil rights leader, saying "we will strive together to make his dream a reality."

Trump, the first criminally convicted president, took repeated aim at the Department of Justice, accusing it of political "weaponization." Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., and South Florida had previously arraigned Trump on charges that he sought to upend the results of the 2020 election and for alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office, but those cases were dismissed after he won reelection.

"Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents, something I know something about," Trump said.

The president promised to rollback Biden’s clean energy agenda, saying he would declare a national energy emergency to increase U.S. oil drilling, and revoke Biden-era car emissions limits aimed at increasing the production of electric vehicles.

While touting an "America First" agenda, Trump also spoke of expanding the nation’s footprint including taking "back" the Panama Canal, planting the U.S. flag on Mars and renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

"The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons," Trump said. "We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars."

Trump, who survived two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign season, being wounded in his right ear by a bullet at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, said he was "saved by God to make America great again."

"Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback, but as you see today, here I am," Trump said. "The American people have spoken."

N.Y. connections

Trump’s ceremony highlighted his ties to New York — Holbrook native Christopher Macchio, who Trump has described as "America’s Tenor," sang the national anthem and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York, delivered a prayer.

Joining Trump on the stage were four of his cabinet and national security nominees from New York — former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), who has started the Senate confirmation process to serve as Environmental Protection Agency administrator; Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, a native of Jericho; Steve Witkoff, a real estate mogul who grew up in Old Westbury, who is Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East and the cochair of Trump’s inauguration committee; and former Rep. Elise Stefanik of upstate New York, who is Trump’s nominee for United Nations ambassador.

Long Island Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), Nick LaLota (R-Amityville), and Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) were among the 600 dignitaries seated in the Rotunda for Trump’s ceremony.

Hours after delivering his inauguration address, Trump switched gears to deliver a campaign-rally style speech at Capital One Arena, where about 20,000 supporters gathered in lieu of the traditional inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

Before Trump spoke, Witkoff invited to the stage a number of relatives of Israeli American hostages held by Hamas following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. The family of Omer Neutra, an Israeli soldier from Plainview killed in the attack, took the stage.

"God bless you all," Trump said.

He also gave a nod to the NYPD early in his remarks, saying: "I grew up with New York's Finest, and we got to give them their authority back. You won't have any crime. There'll be no crime."

But the president spent most of his speech taking aim at Biden, and his preemptive pardons, calling them "disgraceful."

As he prepared to sign a series of executive orders, including one that rolled back 78 of Biden’s executive orders, Trump told the audience: "We're not finished yet."

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.