On Monday, January 20, President Donald J. Trump was sworn into office as the 47th President of the United States. All living former Presidents, tech giants such as Zuckerberg and Bezos, and a slew of other prominent citizens and political figures were in attendance. During Trump’s inauguration speech, he outlined his plans for his coming presidency, stressing the perceived failure of Biden’s administration and claiming that his presidency will begin a new “Golden Age” of America. He discussed his plans for deportations, the border, tariffs on foreign goods, manufacturing, and more.

Immediately after the inauguration, Trump faced backlash for not having his hand on the Bible while being sworn in. It is unclear if he will be sworn in again, much like Obama’s 2009 inauguration, when he made his inauguration oath incorrectly. In addition, he received backlash from the left for being too abrasive and personal, while the right praised his zeal and shamelessness.

Just after his speech, he signed many executive orders while simultaneously answering questions from the press. Included in these executive orders were: designating cartels as terrorist organizations, declaring a national energy emergency, pardoning January 6th rioters, restoring the death penalty, and delaying the TikTok ban. Another was the elimination of birthright citizenship, which grants all those born in the U.S. citizenship, as a strategy to decrease illegal immigration—the thought being that if immigrants know their children won’t be citizens when born in the U.S., there is less incentive to cross illegally. Prominent Republicans have been largely in favor of this. However, this executive order will be unable to accomplish the goal, as birthright citizenship is enshrined by the 14th Amendment, and therefore requires a vote in Congress to be removed. Additionally, California, Massachusetts, and New Jersey have sued the Trump administration to block his executive order that would end Birthright Citizenship in the U.S. 

Alex Chen, leader of Blue Club remarked, “It was great to see a peaceful transfer of power that took place on January 20…Although I and many others will surely have disagreements with the President, we should all hope for the sake of our country that he has a productive and successful term.”  The leaders of the Red Club also shared sentiments saying, “We are very excited to see Trump policies and the good they will surely do for the country.  He’s already accomplished so much in a very short time and the next 4 years look very promising.”