President Trump stresses ‘America first’ in inaugural address

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Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th US president by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in front of the Capitol in Washington on Friday. AFP/Timothy A. Clary

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump, the real estate mogul and reality television star who upended American politics and energized voters angry with Washington, was sworn in Friday as the 45th president of the United States, putting Republicans in control of the White House for the first time in eight years.

“America will start winning again, winning like never before,” the president said in an inaugural address that lasted about 16 minutes and that stressed America exceptionalism and giving voice to those Americans who feel forgotten.

“From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first. America first,” Trump said.

He later added for those Americans who feel passed by: “You will never be ignored again. Your voice, your hopes and your dream will define our American destiny.”

Earlier, Trump kicked off the day with a tweet at daybreak.

“It all begins today!” Trump tweeted, before heading to a morning church service with his family as light rain fell. “THE MOVEMENT CONTINUES – THE WORK BEGINS!”

Later, on the White House steps, where the Obamas greeted the Trumps, Melania Trump handed Michelle Obama a robin-egg blue box with ribbon on it, part of a morning of highly choreographed activities, with movements of the 44th and 45th presidents planned down to the minute.

Trump, a real estate tycoon and a reality television star, takes office as the first president to have no experience in either government and the military.

Ebullient Trump supporters flocked to the nation’s capital for the inaugural festivities, some wearing red hats emblazoned with his “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan. But in a sign of the deep divisions Trump sowed during his combative campaign, dozens of Democratic lawmakers were boycotting the swearing-in ceremony on Capitol Hill.

Police also used pepper spray to quell violent protests in downtown Washington during the inauguration ceremonies in which restaurant windows were smashed.

Police try to remove demonstrators from attempting to block people entering a security checkpoint, Friday, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington. | AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Police try to remove demonstrators from attempting to block people entering a security checkpoint, Friday, ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington. | AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

While Trump came to power bucking convention, he was wrapping himself in the traditional pomp and pageantry that accompany the peaceful transfer of power.

Trump supporters started lining up at security checkpoints before dawn to take their places in the quadrennial rite of democracy.

“I’m here for history,” said Kevin Puchalski, a 24-year-old construction worker who drove from Philadelphia. “This is the first president that I voted for that won.” His big hope: Trump builds that promised wall on the U.S.-Mexican border. “Keep the illegals out,” he said.

Protesters, too, were out early, some trying to block inaugural visitors from passing through security checkpoints, some wearing orange jumpsuits with black hoods over their faces. Police in riot gear were out in force.

Eleanor Goldfield, who helped organize the Disrupt J20 protest, said demonstrators hope to show they will not be silent throughout Trump’s presidency. She called Trump supporters “misguided, misinformed or just plain dangerous.”

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GalleryTrump aides said the president-elect had been personally invested in crafting his inaugural address, a relatively brief 20-minute speech that is expected to center on his vision for what it means to be an American. Spokesman Sean Spicer said the address would be “less of an agenda and more of a philosophical document.”

Trump has pledged to upend some of President Obama’s major domestic and national security policies, including repealing his signature health care law and building a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border. But he’s offered few details of how he plans to accomplish his agenda, often sending contradictory signals.

The three days of inaugural festivities kicked off Thursday. Trump left his Trump-branded jet in New York and flew to Washington in a government plane, saluting an Air Force officer as he descended the steps with his Melania. He and the incoming vice president, Mike Pence, solemnly laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery before joining supporters for an evening concert at the Lincoln Memorial.

Trump’s son, Don Jr., told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that as the various festivities got underway, “the magnitude of it all” was at last sinking in. He pronounced his father “ready to take office.”

“We’re going to unify our country,” Trump said at the close of the two-hour concert featuring country star Toby Keith, soul’s Sam Moore and The Piano Guys. But not singer Jennifer Holliday: She backed out after an outcry from Trump critics.

Trump supporters were excited. But crowds for the inauguration ceremony were significantly less than for Obama in 2009.

Chris Lehmann, 55, a maintenance supervisor from Belmar, New Jersey, said: “I’m so excited, I’m like, on top of the world.”

Eleanor Haven, 83, of Alexander City, Alabama, was attending the festivities with her son, Scott Haven. The pair said they had never been to a political event before attending a Trump “thank you” tour rally in Alabama after the election and were looking forward to Friday’s celebration.

“We’re excited for changes in the country,” Scott Haven said.

Celebrities were weighing in from all parts of the globe. Matthew McConaughey, in London to promote movies, stressed a need for acceptance, saying, “The votes came in, the peaceful transfer of power should happen today and we all need to embrace that.” James Taylor, a vocal Trump critic, emailed a video postcard from his vacation in French Polynesia, saying that on the last day of the Obama administration, “it feels like it’s raining all over the world.”

On the eve of the inauguration, protesters and Trump supporters clashed outside a pro-Trump event Thursday night, with police using chemical spray to try control demonstrators outside the “DeploraBall.” The name was a play on a campaign remark by Hillary Clinton, who once referred to some Trump’s supporters as a “basket of deplorables.”

All of the living American presidents were scheduled to attend the swearing in ceremony, except for 92-year-old George H.W. Bush, who was hospitalized this week with pneumonia. His wife, Barbara, was also admitted to the hospital after falling ill. Trump tweeted his well-wishes to the Bushes, saying he was “looking forward to a speedy recovery.”

Clinton, Trump’s vanquished campaign rival, also planned to join dignitaries at Capitol Hill.

While Trump revels in a celebratory lunch with lawmakers and parade up Pennsylvania Avenue — passing his newly opened Washington hotel — workers at the White House will set about the frantic process of moving out the Obamas and preparing the residence for its new occupants.

Moving trucks were on standby Friday morning at the White House.

Obama, who will continue to live in Washington, was leaving town with his family after the inauguration for a vacation in Palm Springs, California. He planned to address a farewell gathering of staff at Joint Base Andrews before boarding his last flight on the military aircraft that ferries presidents on their travels.

Contributing: Lynn Sweet

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