Trump, the divine chosen one who takes the United States from the apocalypse to the golden age in one minute

Donald Trump is now president again. The day of his investiture was completely unusual. It was held inside the Capitol for the first time since 1985, although the day turned out to not be as cold as initially expected. Trump, however, did not resign himself to being left without his small crowd bath. Before even reaching the White House, he stopped at the Capital One Arena, an indoor stadium, to watch a military parade and sign his first decrees while more than 15,000 of his followers cheered him on. Trump demonstrated on his first day in office that he arrives with a vengeful spirit. He repealed more of Biden’s executive orders than he approved newly worded ones. He made important decisions that show that the United States turns its back on multilateralism and is willing to test the constitutional seams of American democracy from its first day in power.

Trump was sworn in at 12:02, two minutes after noon, the time at which constitutionally the change in power occurred. Eight minutes later he began his investiture speech. It is an occasion in which presidents try to leave their mark, to give an inspiring message. Although Trump included some prefabricated and optimistic phrases, his speech was not at all inspiring. At times, it consisted of the presentation of its specific measures. In others, he elaborated on the unrealistic apocalyptic description of the United States as a country on the brink of disappearance, when in reality its economy is the envy of the world, crime has decreased significantly and even the uncontrolled immigration flow has stopped.

Trump presents himself as the rescuer of the United States, as the liberator, as the person who is going to make it an independent and sovereign country, as if it were not. He saved his life in the July attack, according to his version, because God wanted him to make the United States great again, presenting himself as a divine chosen one without the slightest shame. He proclaimed the beginning of “a golden age” in the United States, without a break in continuity. The decadence is over. From the apocalypse to the golden age in one minute, just because he occupies the White House again.

The Republican knows that he owes a large part of his victory at the polls to inflation (a global phenomenon) and irregular immigration. He turned xenophobia into the axis of his campaign, repeating the manual that took him to the White House for the first time. Many of the decrees it approved on its first day are aimed at combating illegal immigration. With Biden president, Trump pressured senators from his party to back off support for legislation to address the problem. He preferred that it not be solved and take advantage of it electorally. Even so, the measures approved by Biden in the last stretch of his mandate have managed to reduce illegal crossings to a level lower than when Trump was in office. Despite this, one of his first measures has been to declare an emergency at the border and a barrage of other restrictive measures, including some aimed at facilitating deportations.

It has not taken any measures against inflation, as it is a problem that has also been resolved for the most part, although not completely. It has been below 3% for six months, but has not yet reached the price stability objective of 2%. The other emergency that Trump has declared is energy, at a time when the United States is breaking crude oil production records. Approves measures to relax environmental protections in favor of crude oil, while placing obstacles on offshore wind energy. The oil companies have already begun to run advertisements on television thanking them for their policies.

As part of his repudiation of the green agenda, he has decided to eliminate regulations so that cars are less polluting. Also, withdraw from the Paris Agreement to limit emissions. At the same time, as a sign of his populist nationalism and his abandonment of multilateralism, he abandoned the World Health Organization and renounced the OECD agreement to impose a minimum tax on multinationals.

Trump also claims victory in the culture war. Break with equality, diversity and inclusion policies, and with any positive discrimination measures to address the systemic racial marginalization that the United States suffers. It punishes public employees by worsening their working conditions and suppressing teleworking.

The president, furthermore, comes to power without complexes, knowing that, thanks to the Supreme Court, he has criminal immunity for acts in the exercise of his office. He doesn’t seem willing to mince words. One of his consecutive orders, the one regarding TikTok, directly orders the attorney general and the Department of Justice not to enforce the law (would that be prevarication in Spain?). Another, on the right to citizenship by birth, breaks with what has been the systematic interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution.

But if there was any doubt that respect for the Constitution is not what defines Trump, it is enough to remember the assault on the Capitol four years ago and the general pardon granted to all those convicted, prosecuted and investigated for that attack on democracy.

With Trump’s return to the Oval Office of the White House, the journey of this newsletter also ends. They have been historic elections in many ways, full of plot twists and exciting stories. We were in the primaries, the conventions, the campaign, the transition of power and the inauguration of the new president. You can follow current events in the United States during Donald Trump’s second term in these other EL PAÍS newsletters:

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More news from the presidential inauguration in the United States

• Trump sweeps away the Biden era with an avalanche of decrees against immigration, the green agenda and diversity. The president withdraws the United States from the Paris Agreement and the WHO, pardons those convicted of the assault on the Capitol and renames the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, but has not yet imposed tariffs on imports.
• Trump’s 41 executive orders on his first day, one by one. The border and energy emergency, the general pardon for the Capitol attackers, the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the WHO and other measures were approved via decree.
• The keys to Trump’s speech: from the “golden age” in the United States to the emergency on the border. The president has dedicated part of his speech to criticizing Joe Biden’s policies, and has even promised to take the American flag to Mars.
• The day the technological oligarchy took office with Donald Trump. The prominence of Musk, Zuckerberg and Bezos in the swearing-in ceremony of the president of the United States at the Capitol opens a new era in the relationship between wealth and power in Washington.
• Melania Trump hides her gaze with a ‘made in USA’ meme hat for her return to the White House. The couturier Adam Lippes has been chosen for the inauguration ceremony by the first lady, who has opted for a coat with a matching hat that has prevented her from kissing her husband.
• “Mexico is not going to like it”: Trump, after declaring the cartels terrorist organizations and opening the door to an attack in the neighboring country. The Government of Claudia Sheinbaum faces the challenge of toughening its fight against drug trafficking and demonstrating results to avoid a United States incursion into Mexico.
• The migrants trapped on the Mexican border that Trump repudiates: “I don’t know what is going to happen to us”. Thousands of people live with despair as the CBP One asylum application closes, on the first day of the new United States Government.