Donald Trump Sworn In as 45th President of the United States

ABC News.com – Donald Trump, now the 45th president of the United States, promised that he would work tirelessly for every American and vowed to put “America first.”

“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. Every decision — on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs — will be made to benefit American workers and American families,” Trump said in his roughly 16-minute inauguration speech, the shortest since President Jimmy Carter’s in 1977.

 

Trump told Americans, “This moment is your moment. It belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America.”

At times his speech echoed themes from his presidential campaign.

He pledged to give voice to “the forgotten men and women” and called for a return of power to the American people from the politicians in Washington. “I will fight for you with every breath in my body, and I will never let you down,” he said.

 

Donald Trump is sworn in as the 45th president of the United States by Chief Justice John Roberts as Melania Trump and his family looks on during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2017.
He continued, “In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving. We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk an no action, constantly complaining but never doing anything about it. The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action.”

He did, however, present a bleak picture of the current state of American affairs.

“Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation. An education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge. And the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,” he said.