Donald Trump is set to declare a ‘revolution of common sense’ and call for Americans to act with ‘courage and vigor’ during his inauguration speech today, it has emerged.
Trump, who will take the oath of office at noon today, intends to be uplifting and unifying in his inaugural address – a departure from his first speech in 2017, which detailed a broken country he described as ‘American Carnage‘.
A copy of his prepared remarks, which were reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, reveal that Trump is expected to highlight his promise of a raft of first-day executive orders to swiftly remake the federal government.
‘I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country,’ he is expected to say, the Journal reports.
‘My message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization.’
Donald Trump (pictured Sunday night) is set to declare a ‘revolution of common sense’ and call for Americans to act with ‘courage and vigor’ during his inauguration speech today, according to the Wall Street Journal which has reviewed a copy of his prepared remarks
Donald Trump arrives to speak at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Washington DC
Trump will be sworn in for a historic second term as president today, promising a new ‘golden age’ for America as the world braces for a return of his unpredictable leadership.
Freezing weather has forced the 78-year-old’s inauguration at the US Capitol indoors, but the first hours of the most extraordinary comeback in American politics will be a blaze of activity.
The Republican vowed to unleash a blitz of executive orders undoing Joe Biden’s legacy upon his return to the White House, and to launch immediate deportations of undocumented migrants.
If Trump painted a dystopian picture of ‘American carnage’ at his first inauguration in 2017, this time around he is offering a more upbeat promise of a ‘brand new day’ for the United States.
He has insisted that unity will be a theme of his inauguration speech Monday, along with strength and fairness – despite spending months as a candidate saying that if elected he would seek retribution against political enemies.
‘I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country,’ Trump told a huge inauguration eve rally where he also danced with the Village People band.
But he also returned to some of the dark themes that drove his election victory over Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
The incoming 47th US president said he would ‘stop the invasion of our borders’ and reverse ‘woke’ policies including ‘transgender insanity’ in US schools.
He forecasted signing as many as 100 executive orders on his first day in office, possibly covering deportations, the southern border, domestic energy, Schedule F rules for federal workers, school gender policies and vaccine mandates, among other Day 1 promises made during his campaign.
He’s also promised an executive order to give more time for the sale of TikTok.
Donald Trump (C) dances with the group the Village People at a rally at Capital One Arena in Washington DC on January 19, 2025
Supporters filled nearly all of the 20,000-plus-seat Capital One Arena in downtown Washington for a MAGA victory celebration on Sunday night, cheering as Trump said he’d take quick action on everything from cracking down on the southern border to promoting oil drilling, reining in the federal workforce and eradicating diversity programs.
‘We’re going to give them the best first day, the biggest first week and the most extraordinary first 100 days of any presidency in American history,’ said Trump, who also promised to roll back executive actions by his predecessor, outgoing President Joe Biden, ‘within hours.’
Trump said he’d jump start his agenda with a series of unilateral actions from the White House, telling the crowd, ‘You’re going to see executive orders that are going to make you extremely happy. Lots of them.’
‘Tomorrow we will not waste a single moment,’ he vowed later to attendees at a dinner reception.
Ending illegal immigration was one of Trump’s top campaign pledges, in a race where he said migrants ‘infest our country.’ That line drew howls from critics, and his policy to get law enforcement to eject millions of people who came here illegally is certain to draw lawsuits and scrutiny.
There were reports Monday that preparations are underway for a mass immigration raid in Chicago as soon as Tuesday. ‘Well, it’s got to happen, and if it doesn’t happen, we’re not going to have a country any longer,’ Trump told NBC before heading to Washington.
Trump’s team has yet to specify how he would carry out the massive nationwide effort, with millions of migrants estimated to be living here illegally.
Luckily for Trump, the Senate is already teeing up another immigration measure, now that the Senate voted to break a filibuster of the Laken Riley Act requiring detention of migrants charged with certain crimes.
A vote Monday could get the bill to his desk on his second day in office.
Trump, who has blasted flows of illegal immigration into the country, has vowed to carry out mass deportations
Trump said he will have the Ukraine war ‘settled’ by the time he takes office, although Russia has continued to hammer Ukraine with ballistic missile attacks
Finally putting an end to Russia’s three-year old war against Ukraine is likely to be among the first plans to fall by the wayside, if facts on the ground are an indication.
‘That is a war that’s dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president,’ Trump said in his debate with VP Kamala Harris.
On Wednesday Russia blasted Ukraine with yet another volley of ballistic missiles attacks, taking out key power infrastructure in winter.
Nevertheless, Trump is determined to apply his negotiating skills to the conflict, and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov praised some of his recent statements that echoed Moscow’s narrative on NATO membership.
Trump has touted his relations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Ukraine has been refusing Moscow’s demands to concede territory seized in the war.
Trump has made so many domestic policy pronouncements for his first stay that it will be hard for him to fit them all in, especially now that he has added a speech at DC’s Capital One Arena after moving the festivities indoors.
Trump appears to have avoided having to carry out a threat that all hell would break out if there isn’t a Gaza cease fire and hostage release deal before he takes office. That came together in the final days of the Biden administration with an assist from his negotiator.
Trump has left little doubt that January 6 pardons are on tap. But how many – and whether to extend them to violent offenders convicted of attacking police officers – could be politically tricky
Trump has said he would pardon January 6 defendants on his first day – and ‘maybe the first nine minutes.’
That came after a campaign where he played a rendition of the National Anthem sung by incarcerated January 6 defendants.
Trump’s pick for AG Pam Bondi got quizzed during her confirmation hearing how she would respond to Trump pardons of those convicted of violent attacks on police officers.
Trump may feel he owes mass pardons to his MAGA base, but not all members of his party are okay with it. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) warned against it at the Bondi hearing. ‘Folks, I was the last Senate member out of the chamber on January 6th. I saw Capitol police officers bleeding, bruised, and I saw damage to a certain extent as we were exiting. To call those people patriots is not in my lexicon,’ he said.
Many experts credit Trump’s win to Americans’ economic worries, and Trump has vowed to make tariffs a key Day One priority.
He has kept up his drum beat during the transition, talking up tariffs on China as well as allies like Canada or Denmark who reject his ideas.
Trump said he would slap 25 percent tariffs on Mexico and Canada on ‘ALL products coming into the United States’, blasting the neighbors with contributing to open borders days after his election. That brought immediate attention from Canada’s outgoing PM Justin Trudeau and new Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
He has also vowed big tariffs on China, although the country’s vice president, Han Zheng, as his representative at the inauguration.
The 78-year-old will take the Oath of Office in the heart of Washington D.C. with wife and First Lady Melania Trump by his side to officially become the nation’s 47th commander-in-chief
Elon Musk attended the rally ahead of Trump’s inauguration, on January 19
Melania and Trump were both all smiles at a private party celebrating the victory
Elon Musk talks with Ivanka Trump before President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a dinner at the Building Museum
Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’ mantra was a Trump refrain in nearly all of his campaign rallies. If featured in one of his most curious comments of the campaign, when Trump told Sean Hannity he wouldn’t be a dictator ‘except for Day One.’
He later explained that he was referring to closing the border and ‘drill, drill, drill.’
Trump has vowed to wipe away environmental regulations and unleash American energy. He has repeatedly stressed his support for fracking, and blasted Harris for her statements on it.
The US became the world’s top crude oil producer in 2018 and retains the title by a wider margin now. Trump has called to boost production even more. One of Biden’s last official acts was to designate new national monuments in California that are protected from new oil and gas leasing. Trump said he would reverse it, but congressional action is likely required.
Trump has vowed to roll back governmental incentives to buy electric cars, which he frequently attacks despite his budding friendship with Tesla boss Elon Musk. ‘The day I take office, I will cancel Crooked Joe’s electric vehicle mandate,’ Trump said.
The incentives are meant to wean the nation from gas-powered cars, but Biden’s efforts to build electric vehicle charging stations have been slow and costly.
President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, April 25, 2017
Trump repeatedly raised hot-button cultural issues in his campaign, where he railed against D.E.I. and repeatedly vowed to ‘keep men out of women’s sports.’
It’s another issue he listed on his ‘first day’ to-do list.
The decisions of whether to let transgender athletes participate in sports is made at the local school and league level. But Trump’s administration does have leverage, through federal education funds, which are a major part of university support.
Trump also vowed on ‘day one’ to ‘revoke Joe Biden’s cruel policies on so-called “gender affirming care.”‘
Trump’s team has had months to prepare to try to counteract some of President Biden’s executive orders.
‘Look, I can undo almost everything Biden did, he through executive order. And on Day One, much of that will be undone,’ Trump told Time.
