‘The golden age of America begins right now’: Donald J. Trump sworn in as nation’s 47th President, Vance as VP

CV NEWS FEED // Monday at noon, Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts. Trump then delivered a rousing inauguration speech in which he vowed to usher in a new “golden age” of the American republic.

Roberts administered the oath of office to Trump immediately after his 2024 running mate JD Vance was sworn in as the country’s 50th Vice President by Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh. 

Trump took his oath with his wife Melania at his side and his children and father-in-law Viktor Knavs standing close by. Departing President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris – whom Trump had soundly defeated in last year’s election – looked on. 

Minutes earlier, Vance had taken his oath flanked by his wife, Usha, who was holding their daughter Mirabel, 3. The Vance’s sons, Ewan, 7, and Vivek, 4, stood by as Kavanaugh read their father his oath. Usha Vance had clerked for both Kavanaugh and Roberts. 

Trump, who had previously served as the 45th President from 2017 to 2021, thus became only the second president in the nation’s history to have two non-consecutive White House tenures, after Grover Cleveland. Meanwhile, Vance, at age 40, is the third youngest Vice President in American history.

The swearing-in ceremony for the new president and Vice President took place inside the U.S. Capitol rotunda. Although it was originally going to take place outside – as had every presidential inauguration since the late 1980s, Trump’s second inauguration was moved indoors due to frigid temperatures.

In a show of national unity, the inauguration was attended by all living past presidents: Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. 

Furthermore, top technology and social media executives were prominently featured at the ceremony, sitting next to Trump’s cabinet nominees and family members. 

Those present included X, SpaceX, and Tesla owner Elon Musk – whom Trump appointed as Administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), later that day – as well as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder and The Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew.

Chew’s attendance was particularly notable as it coincided with Trump’s signing of an anticipated executive order delaying enforcement of a law banning the popular short-form video app. Biden had signed the law last year.

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Catholic clergymen both opened and closed the ceremony in prayer. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York delivered the invocation. 

Father Frank Mann, a retired priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn and personal friend of Trump’s, was one of three religious leaders to give a benediction at the ceremony’s close.  

After being sworn in for his history-making second term, Trump promptly took the podium for his first presidential speech since initially leaving the White House four years earlier.

“The golden age of America begins right now,” the president said at the beginning of his half-hour address. “From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.”

“During every single day of the Trump administration, I will, very simply, put America first,” Trump outlined. “Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced.”

“The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end,” the president stressed. “And our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud and prosperous and free.”

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Trump then pointed to what he said were the failures of the previous Biden administration. 

“We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders but refuses to defend American borders, or more importantly, its own people,” he outlined.

Trump added that after four years of the Biden presidency, the United States “can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency.” He cited the widely panned government responses to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, as well as the ongoing wildfires that are continuing to wreak havoc on Southern California.

“Our recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal, and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy and indeed their freedom,” Trump said.

“From this moment on, America’s decline is over,” he declared.

“Our liberties and our nation’s glorious destiny will no longer be denied. And we will immediately restore the integrity, competency, and loyalty of America’s government,” the president went on. “For American citizens, January 20th, 2025, is Liberation Day.”

Trump said that he hoped that the 2024 election, which saw him again vastly outperform expectations on his way to sweeping all seven swing states and winning the popular vote, “will be remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country.”

The 47th president also reminded the American people about July 13, 2024 – the day he came millimeters away from losing his life, as a bullet fired by a would-be assassin grazed his ear drawing blood.

“I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason,” Trump said. “I was saved by God to make America great again.”

In the speech, he continued to differentiate himself from Biden emphasizing his administration “will be inspired by a strong pursuit of excellence and unrelenting success. We will not forget our country, we will not forget our Constitution, and we will not forget our God.”

“We will be a nation like no other,” Trump vowed, “full of compassion, courage, and exceptionalism.”

“Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent, and totally unpredictable,” he laid out. “America will be respected again and admired again, including by people of religion, faith, and goodwill.”

“We will be prosperous, we will be proud, we will be strong, and we will win like never before,” Trump stated. “We will not be conquered, we will not be intimidated, we will not be broken, and we will not fail.”

“From this day on, the United States of America will be a free, sovereign, and independent nation,” the president concluded. “We will stand bravely, we will live proudly, we will dream boldly, and nothing will stand in our way because we are Americans.”

“The future is ours, and our golden age has just begun,” he said to thunderous applause.