Updated January 20, 2025 at 16:52 PM ET
For updates, context and analysis of Donald Trump's 2025 inauguration, check out NPR's live blog throughout the day Monday.
In what was arguably the most unusual inauguration in American history, President Donald Trump pledged a "golden age" for the country, while castigating the outgoing administration with now-former President Biden sitting just feet behind him.
"The golden age of America begins right now," Trump said in his second inaugural address, which was moved inside because of cold weather. "From this day forward, our country will flourish."
He added: "We will be the envy of every nation and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer."
Trump stuck to the teleprompter in his official address. There was a lot that he promised to do, but a lot that he also left out – purposely, he revealed in an off-script speech to supporters in the Capitol that was actually longer than his inaugural address.
Here are four takeaways and key moments from Trump's formal – and informal – address:
1. The country got a better idea of what Trump will focus on.
Trump said he would quickly sign executive orders related to deportations, energy, tariffs and more. He said he would declare a "national emergency at our southern border," halting immigration and deporting "criminal immigrants."
"We will do it at a level nobody has ever seen before," Trump promised. He also said he would declare a "national energy emergency," would rescind the Green New Deal and any mandate to produce more electric vehicles.
"In other words, you'll be able to buy the car of your choice," he said.
He pledged to create an "External Revenue Service" to level tariffs against other countries' goods. Trump argues those measures would help build American "prosperity," though he said post-election that it would be "hard" to lower prices. Prices and inflation were consistently shown to be many Americans' top concerns.
"My top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free," Trump said in his address.
But culture issues and immigration were always the fuel to Trump's political rise. Immigration has been a key priority of his base. In the latest NPR/PBS News/Marist poll, 4 in 10 Republicans were in favor of mass deportations and more than half said they strongly support it.
Opposition to pro-transgender policies were also a touchstone of Trump's 2024 presidential campaign, and he pledged in this speech to make it U.S. policy that there are only two genders – "male and female."
2. There was a lot he didn't talk about in his formal address, notably Jan. 6 and his promises of political retribution — but he did later.
In the lead up to the election, Trump promised political retribution against many of his critics. But it was – and remains – unclear how far he will go and how, if or when he will follow through.
"The scales of justice will be rebalanced," Trump said. "The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end."
Trump was charged in four different criminal cases, though only one made it to trial before the election because of delays and prosecutorial setbacks. He was convicted for, among other things, fraudulent business practices in New York.
But Trump used the charges as a rallying cry with his base. A short time after his inaugural address, he had much more to say in his off-script remarks to supporters.
"I was going to talk about the J6 hostages," Trump said in Emancipation Hall in the Capitol after his formal address, with House Speaker Mike Johnson standing off to Trump's left. "But it's action, not words that count. And you're going to see a lot of action."
Trump has pledged to pardon many, if not all, of those convicted of attacking the Capitol that day, though the latest NPR poll found 62% disapproved of Trump going through with those pardons.
Trump has been embittered about the congressional investigation into his role leading up to and on Jan. 6. In his inaugural address, he kept aside his grievances against those who served on that committee. But he didn't hold back in his informal speech later, calling them "thugs" and, again, sharply criticizing people like Republicans and former Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who served on the committee.
Earlier in the day, before the inauguration, Biden preemptively pardoned the Jan. 6 committee (as well as many in his own family).
How Trump proceeds now with his avowed retribution is still unclear. Of course, what led to Jan. 6 in the first place was Trump's lies about the 2020 election being stolen. He didn't talk about that in his inaugural address, but he was happy to do so later in front of what he called "Trump fans."
"By the way, that election was totally rigged," Trump reiterated of 2020. "That was a rigged election."
He added: "Had I thought we lost, I wouldn't run again … This time we made it too big to rig. They tried, they tried like hell. Then around 9:02, they gave up."
3. Trump delivered sharp criticism of the outgoing administration, right in front of Biden and Vice President Harris.
Despite pledging in his inaugural address to be a "peacemaker and unifier" — and saying that's what he wants his legacy to be — with Biden looking on, Trump bitingly claimed that the government cannot manage simple domestic crises "while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad."
He leveled criticism related to crime and immigration and was seemingly critical of U.S. funding of Ukraine's defense against Russia's invasion.
"We have a government that has given unlimited funding to the defense of foreign borders, but refuses to defend American borders or, more importantly, its own people," Trump said.
He also claimed the government "can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency," like after the hurricane that wreaked havoc in North Carolina or the wildfires in Los Angeles.
Biden has vowed to do everything possible to help victims in California.
"We're doing literally everything we can at a federal level," Biden said earlier this month. He pledged to fully fund state response needs for 180 days, well into the new Trump administration.
After Hurricanes Helene and Milton, Biden asked Congress for $100 billion in funding to help recovery efforts.
Trump went on in his inaugural address, lambasting "a public health system that does not deliver in times of disaster" and "an education system that teaches our children to be ashamed of themselves."
It's ironic, considering that Trump left office the first time with low approval ratings, and people largely disapproved of his handling of the COVID pandemic. The pandemic has receded to the backburner in public life, but inflation that resulted in part from supply shortages stemming from the pandemic led to a decline in Biden's approval ratings. That opened a path for Trump to get back to the White House.
4. Democrats tried to show respect for the office and the peaceful transfer of power, but they couldn't all hold back their reactions at some more eye-opening moments.
Despite Trump falsely claiming to have won the 2020 election, despite Jan. 6 and despite Biden repeatedly calling him a threat to democracy, Biden and Democratic officials participated in the inauguration ceremonies as an endorsement of the peaceful transfer of power.
Biden, earlier in the day, even invited the Trumps to the White House for tea, a tradition that Trump did not extend to Biden four years ago.
But at the inaugural address, some true colors showed, if only very briefly.
Trump nodded to his improvements in the election with Black and Latino voters, particularly men. "To the Black and Hispanic communities, thank you for the trust and love you gave to me," Trump said, adding, "We set records, and I will not forget it."
Trump did win a record percentage of Latinos for a Republican — 46%, according to exit polls. He only won 11% of Black voters, but did see improvement with Black men.
But then Trump noted that his inauguration was taking place on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and vowed, "We will strive to make his dream a reality. We will make his dream come true."
To that, President Biden, seated behind Trump, could be seen showing what could be described as a smirk of bemusement.
Later, Trump vowed to sign an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico, the name cartographers gave it dating back to the late 16th Century, to the "Gulf of America." That was met with a shake of the head and a laugh from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whom Trump defeated in 2016 for the presidency.
"Hillary. She didn't look too happy today," Trump later joked.
In reality, despite the attempts at niceties on Monday, many Democrats are waiting fearfully to see what Trump actually does — and who benefits.
Another former first lady, Michelle Obama, who blistered Trump in multiple campaign addresses, didn't attend the formalities. That left former President Barack Obama on his own on a dais that included billionaire tech moguls Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk.
Seeing them there, chatting with Trump's family, was an awkward moment, considering just feet away was Biden. In his farewell address last week, Biden warned of a new American oligarchy, a "Tech Industrial Complex" – and a potentially dangerous changing time.
For Trump and his supporters, who deem that Trump was "saved by God" from an assassination attempt last year to run the country, they see things very differently.
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