Donald Trump becomes 45th president as protests against his inauguration turn violent in Washington, DC.
Donald Trump took power as the 45th president of the United States on Friday and pledged to end what he called an “American carnage” of rusted factories and crime in an inaugural address.
The inauguration took place outside US Capitol in Washington, DC, on Friday, as protesters clashed with police nearby.
“Together, we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come,” Trump said in his inaugural speech.
“We will face challenges, we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done.”
The Republican president added: “For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth.”
Trump said the United States has enriched foreign industry at the expense of American companies, subsidized the armies of other countries while letting the U.S. military become depleted, and spent trillions abroad while allowing infrastructure at home to crumble.
“The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed across the entire world,” he said.
At 70 years of age, Trump is the oldest man ever to begin work in the Oval Office.
He has vowed to tear up Obama’s policies and re-examine decades-old alliances with Europe and in Asia. Beginning Friday, his team plans a rolling series of daily executive orders to roll back Obama’s agenda.
His inauguration was notably more sparsely attended than that of Obama in 2009 and 2013.
Many will look to Trump’s inaugural speech for efforts to unify a country divided by politics – and increasingly, by culture.
Donald Trump begins overhaul as first executive orders signed
Within hours of taking the oath of office, President Donald Trump on Friday night signed an executive order aimed at trying to fulfill one of his most impassioned campaign promises: Rolling back Obamacare.
The order notes that Trump intends to seek the “prompt repeal” of the law and it directs federal agencies not to issue regulations that would expand the law’s reach.
Mattis, Kelly sworn in as first Trump cabinet members
Vice President Mike Pence has sworn in the first two confirmed members of the new US cabinet, James Mattis as defense secretary and John Kelly as homeland security secretary.
The two retired Marine generals were approved by the Senate on Friday, just hours after President Donald Trump took the oath of office.