For Trump, a Vindication for the Man and His Movement

Donald John Trump completed an extraordinary return to power on Monday as he was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States and promised an immediate blitz of actions to begin drastically changing the course of the country and usher in a new “golden age of America.”

In a triumph of the man and his movement, Mr. Trump took the oath of office during a ceremony in the Capitol four years after he was evicted by voters, reinvigorated for another term aimed at remaking America in his vision. He wasted no time outlining an ambitious program of often divisive policies to “reclaim our Republic” and purge its enemies and his own.

“My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed, their freedom,” Mr. Trump said during a 29-minute Inaugural Address as former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. looked on. “From this moment on, America’s decline is over.”

Feeling vindicated by voters after impeachments, indictments and conviction on 34 felony counts, Mr. Trump claimed a personal mandate as well as a political one. “Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” he said. “But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken.”

Indeed, he saw divine intervention in his restoration to the White House, citing his close call during an assassination attempt this summer. “I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason,” he said. “I was saved by God to make America great again.”

Mr. Trump was inaugurated in the same building where a mob of his supporters rampaged four years ago in a failed effort to reverse the results of an election that he lost, culminating a political comeback unlike any in U.S. history. In a stark sign of the changing power structure in America, Mr. Trump planned later in the day to pardon or commute the sentences for hundreds of rioters convicted for their roles in the attack.

Mr. Biden, wary of Mr. Trump’s promises to take “retribution” on his perceived enemies, used his final hours in power to use the pardon power himself to thwart possible political prosecutions by his successor. Mr. Biden pardoned five members of his family, including his two brothers, as well as other figures who have been targeted by Mr. Trump: former Representative Liz Cheney, the retired Gen. Mark A. Milley and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci.

But Mr. Biden, who for more than four years has warned that Mr. Trump was a threat to democracy, nonetheless observed the rituals of the day, unlike his predecessor did four years ago. He graciously hosted Mr. Trump for coffee at the White House before the ceremony.

“Welcome home,” Mr. Biden told Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, when they arrived at the executive mansion.

Mr. Trump planned to move quickly beyond Inauguration Day ceremonies to put his stamp back on the government with as many as 100 orders and actions. He vowed to immediately declare a national emergency at the southern border and send the military to guard it. He said he would end government programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. He said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and promised to seize the Panama Canal. “We’re taking it back,” he said.

Much as he did eight years ago, when he denounced “American carnage” in his first Inaugural Address, Mr. Trump painted a grim portrait of a country on its knees that only he could revive. But even more than in 2017, he largely dispensed with lofty themes and the broad unifying strokes favored by most presidents after taking the oath and instead detailed specific policies he would enact.

Sitting a few feet away, Mr. Biden stared downward during some of the speech, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at one point even laughed at the Gulf of Mexico line. The event quickly took on the feel of a State of the Union address as Republicans jumped to their feet to applaud specific policy plans while Democrats sat mute and uncomfortable.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. administered the 35-word oath of office to Mr. Trump at 12:01 p.m., a minute after the constitutionally proscribed time, during a ceremony that the president-elect’s team moved indoors citing the cold weather. James David Vance was sworn in a minute before as the nation’s 50th vice president by Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.

Mr. Trump, 78, became the oldest person inaugurated as president, eclipsing Mr. Biden, who was five months younger when he took the oath four years ago. Mr. Vance, 40, by contrast, became the third-youngest vice president in history.

Mr. Trump also became only the second president since the founding of the Republic to reclaim the White House after being defeated for re-election, joining President Grover Cleveland, who served nonconsecutive terms in the 19th century.