#TrumpInauguration: Trump promises to put 'America First'

US President Donald Trump raises his fist after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on the West front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Photo: Reuters

US President Donald Trump raises his fist after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on the West front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Photo: Reuters

Published Jan 20, 2017

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Washington - Donald Trump was sworn in as

the 45th president of the United States on Friday, succeeding

Barack Obama and telling a bitterly divided country he will

pursue "America First" policies at home and abroad.

As scattered protests erupted elsewhere in Washington, Trump

raised his right hand and put his left on a Bible used by

Abraham Lincoln and repeated a 35-word oath of office from the

U.S. Constitution, with U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts

presiding.

Afterward, he stretched his arms wide and hugged his wife,

Melania, and other members of his family. Then he turned around

to a podium and delivered his inaugural address.

"This moment is your moment, it belongs to you," Trump told

a large crowd that had earlier booed Chuck Schumer, the

Democratic minority leader in the U.S. Senate.

Revisiting themes from his improbable campaign victory,

Trump said his presidency would aim to help struggling

middle-class families, build up the U.S. military and strengthen

U.S. borders.

"We are transferring power from Washington D.C. and giving

it back to you," he said.

"From this day forward a new vision will govern our land,"

Trump said. "From this day forward it's going to be only America

First."

The transition from a Democratic president to a Republican

took place on the West Front of the domed U.S. Capitol before a

crowd of former presidents, dignitaries and hundreds of

thousands of people on the grounds of the National Mall. The

crowd stretched westward on a cool day of occasional light rain.

Trump, 70, takes over a country divided after a savage

election campaign. A wealthy New York businessman and former

reality TV star, he will set the country on a new, uncertain

path at home and abroad.

Away from the Capitol, masked activists ran through the

streets smashing windows with hammers at a McDonald's

restaurant, a Starbucks coffee shop and Bobby Van's Grill

steakhouse several blocks from the White House.

They carried black anarchist flags and signs that said,

"Join the resistance, fight back now." Police used pepper spray

and chased them down a major avenue, a Reuters eyewitness

reported.

In another location not far from the White House, protesters

also scuffled with police, at one point throwing aluminum chairs

at them at outdoor café.

Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate who Trump defeated

on Nov 8, attended the ceremony with her husband, former

President Bill Clinton. Former presidents George W. Bush and

Jimmy Carter were also present with their wives. Bush's father,

former President George H.W. Bush, 92, was in Houston recovering

from pneumonia.

Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, began the day

attending a prayer service at St. John's Episcopal Church near

the White House. Trump, wearing a dark suit and red tie, and

Melania Trump, clad in a classic-styled, powder blue ensemble,

then headed into the White House for a meeting with Obama and

his wife, Michelle.

Trump took office with work to do to bolster his image.

During a testy transition period since his stunning

election win, Trump has repeatedly engaged in Twitter attacks

against his critics, so much so that one fellow Republican,

Senator John McCain, told CNN that Trump seemed to want to

"engage with every windmill that he can find."

An ABC News/Washington Post poll this week found only 40

percent of Americans viewed Trump favorably, the lowest rating

for an incoming president since Democrat Carter in 1977, and the

same percentage approved of how he has handled the transition.

(http://abcn.ws/2jU9w63)

TRUMP'S AGENDA

His ascension to the White House, while welcomed by

Republicans tired of Obama's eight years in office, raises a

host of questions for the United States.

Trump campaigned on a pledge to take the country on a more

isolationist, protectionist path and has vowed to impose a 35

percent tariff on goods on imports from U.S. companies that went

abroad.

His desire for warmer ties with Russian President Vladimir

Putin and threats to cut funding for North Atlantic Treaty

Organization nations has allies from Britain to the Baltics

worried that the traditional U.S. security umbrella will be

diminished.

In the Middle East, Trump has said he wants to move the U.S.

embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, at the risk of

angering Arabs and stirring international concern. He has yet to

sketch out how he plans to carry out a campaign pledge to "knock

the hell out of" Islamic State militants.

The inaugural festivities may have a more partisan edge than

usual, given Trump's scorching campaign and continuing

confrontations between him and Democrats over his

take-no-prisoners Twitter attacks and pledge to roll back many

of Obama's policies.

More than 60 Democratic lawmakers planned to stay away from

the proceedings to protest Trump, spurred on after he derided

U.S. Representative John Lewis of Georgia, a hero of the civil

rights movement, for calling him an illegitimate president.

Thousands of anti-Trump protesters were expected among the

inauguration crowd and many demonstrators will participate in a

"Women's March on Washington" on Saturday. Protests are also

planned in other cities in the United States and abroad.

Keith Kidwell, chairman of the Republican Party in Beaufort

County, North Carolina, was among the crowds on Friday, eager to

see the start of the Trump presidency.

"I cling to my guns and my Bible. I've been waiting a long

eight years for this day," said Kidwell, adding he initially

supported U.S. Senator Ted Cruz to be the Republican

presidential nominee but was now squarely behind Trump.

QUICK ACTION

Trump's to-do list has given Republicans hope that, since

they also control the U.S. Congress, they can quickly repeal and

replace Obama's signature healthcare law, approve sweeping tax

reform and roll back many federal regulations they say are

stifling the U.S. economy.

"He's going to inject a shock to the system here almost

immediately," Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox

News.

Democrats, in search of firm political footing after the

unexpected defeat of Hillary Clinton, are planning to fight him

at every turn. They deeply oppose Trump's anti-immigrant

rhetoric from the campaign trail and plans to build a wall along

the southern U.S. border with Mexico.

Trump's critics have been emboldened to attack his

legitimacy because his win came in the Electoral College, which

gives smaller states more clout in the outcome. He lost the

popular vote to Clinton by about 2.9 million.

Trump's critics also point to the conclusion of U.S.

intelligence agencies that Russia used hacking and other methods

during the campaign to try to tilt the election in the

Republican's favor. Trump has acknowledged the finding - denied

by Moscow - that Russia was behind the hacking but said it did

not affect the outcome of the election.

To his critics - including Obama who during the campaign

called Trump temperamentally unfit for the White House - his

straight talk can be jarring, especially when expressed in

tweets. His supporters, many of them working-class whites, see

Trump as a refreshingly anti-establishment figure who eschews

political correctness.

"He's here for the working man" supporter Adam Coletti of

Plainfield, Connecticut, said as he headed toward the

inauguration.

Reuters

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