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.
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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.