‘It’s going to be only America first’
• Trump Declares As He Becomes America’s 45th President
• Scuffles Break Out During Inauguration Ceremony
Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and reality television star who upended American politics and energized voters angry with Washington, was officially sworn in yesterday as the 45th president of the United States, putting Republicans in control of the White House for the first time in eight years.
Ex-Presidents, prominent politicians and Trump’s family attended Trump’s 35-word swearing-in ceremony. However, the crowds gathered in Washington DC were significantly smaller than the Barack Obama’s inauguration.
Supreme Court Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts, administered the oath of office to Trump, as he vowed to “faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States.” As he took the oath, Trump placed his hand on the Bible used by President Obama at both of his inauguration ceremonies.
“This is your day. This is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is your country,” Trump declared. “The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans.”
“From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first, America first,” he asserted. “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our product, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.”
He added: “Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. I will fight for you with every breathe in my body and I will never ever let you down.”
Trump started his improbable presidential bid in 2015, beating out a former secretary of state and several senators and governors during his dizzying, chaotic rise to the White House. He becomes the first U.S. president with no prior government or military experience.
Trump, 70, was sworn in using two Bibles, the one used by Abraham Lincoln at his first inauguration and his own. Trump’s mother gave him his personal Bible shortly before his ninth birthday, according to the inaugural committee.
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas swore in Vice President Mike Pence.
Wearing a red tie, Trump walked onto the dais, greeted his own family and Barack and Michelle Obama but did not acknowledge the former presidents and his former opponent, Hillary Clinton, who stood behind him to his left.
The crowd gathered for Trump’s inauguration filled out only parts of the National Mall, smaller than the overflowing audience seen at Obama’s first inauguration in 2009.
Trump is the most unpopular incoming president in recent memory, as only 38 percent of Americans view him positively and 48 percent view him negatively, according to NBC/Wall Street Journal polling. Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton had favorable ratings of 67 percent, 50 percent and 64 percent, respectively, as they took office.
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers said they would skip the inauguration, with some citing Trump’s divisive policies and others citing the intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
Meanwhile, violent protests erupted in downtown Washington yesterday, just a mile from the spot where Donald Trump gave his inaugural address.
Police moved in large groups to disperse mobs of demonstrators as tear gas lingered in the air and the pavement was speckled with broken glass.
Ronald Dye, 56, said he hid under tables at Starbucks as 300 to 400 protesters swept past, some stopping to hurl bricks.
“They started throwing bricks at first, then they started throwing the trash bin but that didn’t work, then they picked up metal spikes and just started smashing the windows out,” he said. “They had all that stuff in their backpacks.”
Mr Dye is the chief of police at Talladega College in Alabama, and travelled to Washington with students to watch the school’s marching band perform. He said they were terrified as the vandals wreaked havoc.
“We just got up under the tables. That’s the only thing we could do,” he said.
Police fired tear gas canisters and detained a small number of protesters before the crowd continued on through the scene of their destruction.
Left in their wake were anarchist symbols, spray painted on walls and emblazoned on an abandoned flag
Peaceful protesters milled around with signs like “not my president” and “say no to racism”, looking equally startled by the destruction. In addition to Starbucks the windows of a McDonald’s, Wells Fargo bank and several cars had been smashed.
Just a short walk to the South, protesters had blocked security gates through which Mr Trump’s supporters were to enter the inauguration.
Activists in London hung a banner reading “Build bridges not walls” on the city’s iconic Tower Bridge yesterday, in a reference to Trump’s signature campaign promise of building a wall on the US-Mexican border.
About 30 groups have obtained permits for protests they estimate will attract about 270,000 people yesterday and today, far more than have been seen in other recent presidential inaugurations.
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3 Comments
Henry check your fact very well and go over your write up before publishing –
— As he took the oath, Trump placed his hand on the Bible used by President Obama at both of his inauguration ceremonies, then in another paragraph
Trump, 70, was sworn in using two Bibles, the one used by Abraham Lincoln at his first inauguration and his own. Trump’s mother gave him his personal Bible shortly before his ninth birthday, according to the inaugural committee.
Ok. It should be. There’s nothing new in what he has said. Is it not Nigeria first? Or has it not bn America first?
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Whilst I join other well wishers to congratulate President Donald J. Trump, I want to remind of three things that have emerged from the events! The two very important aspects of American history and his victory or ascension as the new President for America, thus: –
1) For his supporters bedeviled by racism, xenophobia and ‘misogyny’ both in the Police and the ‘KKK’ against immigration that Africans happened in America’s historical records, to be amongst the first to arrived in the U.S. in the company of Amerigo Vespucci and Lucas Vasquez Ayllow at the coast of Peedee River, South Carolina from Sao Tome, the Principie and the Congo Basin -1452, 1501 and up to 1526 that, by all indications and natural justice/ logic Africans are strong stakeholders (contention) in America! Even by the Grand-father clause, I don’t know if Donald Trump knows about this provision in American history, they are still very relevant in America’s history to be tossed about by those I consider are new arrival from 19th Century!
2) That it is evident that the Africans made substantial and outstanding contributions to the growth and development of America in no small ways one of which is the building of the citadel of your DEMOCRATIC system – the White house! Then the ‘Ford’s Theater’ where Lincoln was assassinated to name these few even your prominent Banks – like the Binga, the YMCA and the rest of the Institutions the impact of these contributions can never be erased by the pranks from the small groups who obviously only arrived in America in the 20th Century, such that any President ignoring the contributions must be unjustifiably working against your history!
The more concerning and perhaps worrying in the modern ‘Day and Age’ is the fact that Donald Trump is a multi-Billionaire and you’re worried negatively about the assistance afforded to poor suffering under ‘pre-existing’ conditions through the Health Care arrangement in the ‘Obama Health Care” in the manner you have demonstrated it in your campaigns and indeed in your ‘first fiats’ after the inauguration in spite of all the window-dressing and in particular the ‘funfair’ and the fiend ‘flirtations’!! To say that it is very unreasonable to deal with the issue of the Health Care in the manner it turned out to be but much will now rest on what the Congress think about the matter for America! But here is what I want to say for the Congress and to Donald J. Trumps Team to consider – it was echoed by the ‘abolitionist’ during the emancipation debates by one of your very concerned leaders, thus: –
“Thou art of purer eyes [and in position of health and wealth] than to behold evil, and cans’t not look upon iniquity
wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue
when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?”
Hab. 1; 13, Matt. 7; 1-2.
The other aspect of the event I said I WOULD REMIND NIGERIA’S LEADERS ABOUT IS IN CONNECTION WITH WHEN DOES PAST HEADS OF STATE LEAVE THE PRECINCT OF AUTHORITY? I mean we saw how and when other Presidents were ushered into the venue and at the end of the event how President Obama and wife left the scene and were flown away not to return to the White House unless by invitation ! A big contrast to what you do in Nigeria with Chief Obasanjo keeps going to ‘Asso Rock Villa’ and prostrating! In all of ot we have a Big lesson to learn whoever os advising you people in Nigeria, folks!
Sorry folks that my interests about the event yesterday may not all appeal to your readers but then I am entitled to my own opinion and you to yours, eh! What it means in effect,mine appears to be on the righteous path and embolden somewhat!!
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