Monday, January 20, 2025

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1/ Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States after defeating Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, winning 49.9% of the popular vote with a margin of 1.48 percentage point – one of the narrowest popular vote margins in modern U.S. history. Trump called his inauguration, which fell on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, “Liberation Day,” saying his victory would be remembered as “the most consequential election” in U.S. history. In his second inaugural address – eight years after he depicted a bleak vision of the country he described as plagued by “American carnage” – Trump declared that “America’s decline is over” and promised that “the golden age of America begins right now.” Trump called his election a “mandate to completely reverse a horrible betrayal” and vowed that the nation’s challenges would be “annihilated” in a “thrilling new era of national success.” Trump outlined a platform focused on border security, energy independence, government reform, and promoting traditional American values as part of his policy agenda. Trump pledged to reinstate strict border policies, deploy the military for border enforcement, and designate cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. His energy plans include rolling back regulations, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, and prioritizing domestic energy production. He promised to overhaul federal bureaucracy, reduce remote work, and eliminate policies he described as radical or burdensome. Trump also committed to defending traditional gender roles and revisiting the naming of American landmarks. Trump announced plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico as “the Gulf of America” and to revert Denali, North America’s highest peak, to its former name, Mount McKinley. He also pledged to seize control of the Panama Canal, declaring, “We’re taking it back,” and vowed to “pursue our Manifest Destiny into the stars” while talking about planting an American flag on Mars. At 78, Trump is the oldest president ever inaugurated, surpassing Biden’s record by five months. His return to power follows his 2020 election loss, two impeachments, four indictments, one conviction, and a civil ruling finding him liable for sexual abuse. Trump enters office with a unified Republican government, giving him fewer institutional constraints as he advances his populist agenda. The inauguration was moved inside the Capitol Rotunda – the same building where a mob of Trump’s supporters four years earlier violently tried to overturn his election loss to Biden – for the first time in 40 years due to the freezing weather in Washington, D.C. After Trump declared that his life was “saved by God to make America great again,” country music singer Carrie Underwood’s performance of “America, the Beautiful” was interrupted by a technical malfunction, leading to a long delay before she was forced to sing the song a cappella. Earlier in the day, Biden hosted Trump and Melania for coffee at the White House before as part of an Inauguration Day tradition. As the Trumps got out of their car, Biden greeted them with, “Welcome home.” (New York Times / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Associated Press / Politico / NPR / WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Day 1462: "Welcome home."