Change of power in the USA: “Almost like God” – Trump celebrates before being sworn in

US President-elect Donald Trump wants to reverse important decisions made by his predecessor Joe Biden in the first hours after his inauguration. “Every radical and senseless order from the Biden administration will be repealed within hours of my swearing in,” the Republican said at a rally in front of cheering supporters in the capital, Washington. The 78-year-old promised a big wave of decisions on his first day in office, including on deporting migrants and securing the border.

Two and a half months after the election, Trump will be sworn in today in Washington as the 47th President of the United States. The ceremony, originally planned on the west side of the Capitol, was moved at short notice to the dome hall of the Parliament building due to the icy cold in the US capital, where significantly fewer guests can be accommodated. The presidential parade, which traditionally leads past crowds of people from the Capitol to the White House, will now take place indoors: in a sports arena in the center of Washington.

It was exactly there that Trump celebrated frenetically in front of his supporters on the eve of his swearing-in. As he entered the hall, the Republican took a dip in the crowd and shouted to his supporters: “We won!” His fans cheered, danced and cheered. They had sometimes waited eight or nine hours in the cold, in sleet and hail, to get into the arena.

“We are ready!” Trump fans shouted ecstatically in anticipation of his return to power. The future most powerful man in the world was also in a good mood, joked and ended up dancing somewhat awkwardly with the band Village People to their disco classic “YMCA”.

One decision after another

Trump promised he would immediately begin solving “every single crisis” in the country. He promised to sign numerous resolutions directly on Monday. “Someone said to me yesterday, ‘Sir, don’t sign so many in one day. Let’s do it over a period of weeks.” I said, “Hell, (…) we’ll do it right at the beginning.”

A Trump adviser told CNN that the Republican wanted to use practically every free minute in the tightly scheduled program on swearing-in day. Fox News reported that Trump’s team was planning more than 200 decisions on day one – some in bundled form.

US presidents can, among other things, implement political priorities without the approval of Congress with the help of so-called executive orders. These decrees enable quick decisions, but can just as easily be repealed by successors. Trump has the latter in mind.

Deportation campaign from day one

He wants to focus on migration policy. When the sun sets on the evening of his inauguration, “the invasion at our borders will have come to a standstill,” Trump shouted into the hall. “All illegal border violators will be on their way back home in one form or another.” This caused cheers. During his election campaign, the Republican promised the “largest deportation program in American history.”

According to US media, the first raids under the name “Operation Safeguard” will begin in several cities shortly after Trump’s inauguration. The campaign is scheduled to last one week. Trump and his team have not officially revealed any details about this, but their pithy announcements have spread a lot of fear among migrants.

Mercy for Capitol stormers

Trump also promised once again to pardon some of those supporters who were convicted of participating in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, immediately after his inauguration. “Everyone in this very large hall will be very happy with my decision on the January 6 hostages,” he said. Trump regularly refers to the convicts as “hostages” and “political prisoners” – a fighting term of his movement, which blatantly glorifies the anti-democratic violence of that time.

On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters violently stormed the parliament building in the capital Washington, where Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election against Trump was supposed to be formally confirmed at the time. As a result of the riots, five people died. Trump had incited his supporters with the unsubstantiated claim that the election victory was stolen from him through massive fraud. He never admitted defeat. And the attack continues to have an impact today.

Trump also announced that he would save the popular video app Tiktok from extinction in the USA. Immediately after taking office, he will initiate an extension of the deadline set for Chinese Tiktok owner Bytedance to divest from its US businesses.

The rally had the character of a usual Trump campaign event: a mix of church service, party and populism. Several of Trump’s family members were there, as were candidates for his cabinet, governors, members of Congress and the tech billionaire Elon Musk, who once again insisted on going on stage. In tow: Musk’s son with the unusual name X Æ A-Xii, who was jumping around excitedly. Above all, there were die-hard Trump fans in the hall.

A woman named Christina said she drove a total of 27 hours from Houston, Texas to Washington to attend. The 49-year-old said she had been a Trump fan for years and had attended around 60 of the Republican’s rallies during the election campaign. “He’s almost like God,” she said. He survived two assassination attempts, “and only he can save people.” Before what? She complained about the fact that women were suddenly men and men were women. “That’s so sad.” Trump will put an end to it.

In fact, the Republican on stage also promised a resolution to restrict the rights of transgender people on the first day. Only to dance for minutes afterwards to the hit “YMCA,” which is considered an unofficial anthem of the LGBTQ+ community.