Donald Trump sworn in as 47th President of the United States of America

Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 47th president of the United States of America.  

Along with his vice-president JD Vance, Trump took the oath of office in the US Capitol Rotunda as proceedings were forced indoors due to freezing conditions in Washington DC. 

In his inaugural address to the American public, the president declared “America's decline is over”, vowing to act quickly with executive action, including declaring a national emergency at the US-Mexico border. 

He told the audience “the golden age of America begins right now” as he planned to sign a number of executive orders to tighten border controls, reverse Joe Biden’s major climate policy the Green New Deal, and end government-mandated diversity programmes. 

It was also confirmed that his administration will “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came”, while “all illegal entry will immediately be halted”. 

Trump’s second inauguration day began with a service at St John’s Church in Lafayette Square, followed by tea at the White House with outgoing president Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden.   

During his first 24 hours back in office, he is expected to sign more than 200 executive actions.   

Ahead of the inauguration, officials estimated 200,000 people would visit Washington DC.  

The event was attended by Biden and outgoing vice-president Kamala Harris, as well as former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and George W Bush.   

Tech billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg were in the audience, as well as TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, just days after the ban on the social media platform came into effect in the US.  

Despite calls from the Scottish Greens since Trump’s landslide election win, John Swinney said earlier this month he would not refuse to meet with the president if he were to visit Scotland.   

Swinney told the Holyrood Sources podcast: “I’m the First Minister of Scotland and I’d have to engage with the president of the United States if he wished to engage with me.  

“And I accepted a phone call from President Trump. I thought that was the right thing to do, we had a perfectly cordial conversation.  

“He expressed his very, very deep, enthusiastic admiration for Scotland and I expressed to him the topics that matter to us.  

“I took the opportunity to mention the significance of the whisky industry.  

“I didn’t raise the issue of tariffs with him, but I was putting the issue of whisky on his radar as it matters to me in my role as first minister, to support key industries in our country.  

“So, I just think, I don’t think people would understand what I was doing if I refused to meet with the president of the United States.”  

Hours before the inauguration the Scottish Greens reiterated its call for Scotland to “take a stand” against Trump and the “hateful and climate-wrecking policies he stands for”.  

The party’s co-leader Lorna Slater said: “This is a dark day. Donald Trump is a clear and present danger to our climate and to human rights around the world. The politics that he represents are the exact opposite of everything that Scotland should stand for.  

“He was elected on a promise of mass deportations and attacks on the most marginalised people. The last time he was in office he introduced racist anti-Muslim laws and showed a total disregard for our environment and for reproductive rights.  

“The US government has the power to wipe out poverty and ensure every one of their citizens has access to free healthcare, good rewarding jobs and stability, but Donald Trump won’t do any of that.”