Key moments of Donald Trump’s big speech

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Donald Trump, glued to his teleprompter and speaking in a more measured tone than he usually deploys at his rallies, began his inaugural address by predicting that “America’s golden age is about to begin” and that the US would “once again flourish and be celebrated in the world.”

But the 78-year-old’s speech was the longest by an incoming US president in nearly a century, soon after he attacked his predecessor, Joe Biden, and threatened to undo much of his legacy with a series of executive orders. .

Here are some key paragraphs:

This was one of many lines lifted word-for-word from Trump’s first and famously dark, inaugural address 8 years ago.

Trump They renewed their criticism of the “Establishment” which said that “it took power and wealth from our citizens at a time when the pillars of our society seemed to be broken and completely destroyed.” Four of the world’s five richest people and several corporate executives were among the VIPs watching from seats a few feet away.

Although Trump’s speech in 2016 While not as bad as his “American carnage” inaugural address in 2017, the president has taken several opportunities to attack Biden’s record.

“We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple problem at home, while at the same time it is stumbling through a catalog of terrible events abroad,” he said.

He also criticized the US aid to Ukraine, “the government that has provided unlimited funding for the protection of the external borders”.

Trump campaigned hard for the White House last year, arguing that immigrants crossing the southern border were turning America into a “captive country.” In his inauguration speech, he hit the theme again.

Trump said the Biden administration’s immigration policies have given “sanctuary and protection” to criminals, including those “from around the world who have illegally entered our country from prisons and mental institutions.”

The new president promised to “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminals to where they came from.” He said he would send troops to the southern border to repel the “invasion”.

Some of Trump’s comments hint at specific policies designed to please different factions within the broader coalition.

He won applause when he said he would sign executive orders to expand U.S. oil and gas exploration — tapping America’s “liquid gold” — a move that would lower energy prices and hit inflation. While speaking at the White House, he said that the US would pull America out of its territory. Paris Climate Agreement.

Trump said he would uphold his “sacred commitment to great American automakers” by repealing the electric vehicle mandate — even though the U.S. has no laws forcing people to buy EVs — and vowed to impose tariffs on other countries to “enrich our citizens.” .

The president also endorsed plans by his biggest financial backer, Elon Musk, to colonize Mars — a mission the US government sees as a distraction from revisiting the moon.

Midway through the speech, Trump rolled out a list of wild promises. He said the United States would rename the Gulf of Mexico “America’s Gulf” and return the name of North America’s highest peak, Alaska’s Denali, to Mount McKinley, in honor of the former president who “made our country rich in tariffs and wealth.” by skill”

In the year He said the United States would “take back” the Panama Canal, which Washington gave to the Central American country in 1978.

“The intent of our agreement and the spirit of our agreement have been completely violated,” Trump said. “American ships are heavily loaded and are not treated fairly in any way, shape or form,” he said, before falsely claiming – in front of China’s vice president, in attendance – that Beijing was “building the Panama Canal”.

A sense of messianic destiny and a touch of righteousness were the main features of Trump’s long speech.

“Those who want to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed my life,” Trump said. “A killer bullet tore my ear off,” he said, referring to a rally in Pennsylvania in July. “I felt it then and I believe it even more now that my life has been saved for a reason.”

The first-time felon to hold the presidency has hit out at various criminal charges against him over the past few years, vowing to “end the brutal, violent and unjust weapon being used against the Justice Department and our government.”

In the year While he did not repeat his false claim that he had won the 2020 election, Trump said his victory in November was a “total and complete reversal of the monstrous betrayal.”