January 19, 2025
WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump used a final rally on the eve of his inauguration to celebrate his election victory again, signaling Sunday that we “won” to a crowd celebrating his return to the White House and projecting defiant optimism. despite a deep optimism. National political divisions.
“Tomorrow, at noon, the curtain rises on four long years of American decline and we begin a new day of American strength, prosperity, dignity and pride,” Trump told his supporters, adding: “We have barely won a mandate, yet We are building a new American majority that will lead our country to good fortune for generations to come.
Supporters filled nearly all of the 20,000-plus-seat Capital One Arena to hear a performance by Kid Rock, who performed “All Summer Long” despite a cold mix of rain and snow falling outside. Others taking the stage included singer Lee Greenwood, whose “God Bless the USA” was the anthem of Trump’s reelection campaign.
“Our hero. A guy who never gave up on the other Americans, and we, the rest of us, never gave up on him,” actor Jon Voight told the crowd.
Stephen Miller, Trump’s pick to be the deputy leader and key architect of the difficult immigration policy promised by the administration, promised that “justice is coming. “
“We are about to get our country back and our democracy back,” Miller said, adding “Donald J. Trump is about to save this country.”
Trump has promised to sign a series of executive actions, which will add to the U. S. -Mexico border policy. Sunday was his first full day in Washington and gave the president-elect a chance to cheer on his top supporters before the official inauguration-day pageantry. . Trump personally had breakfast with Republican senators at Blair House, the official apartment for the president’s guests, across from the White House across Pennsylvania Avenue, and then posed for a photo with the 10 Republican senators and their new staff leader, Susie. Tricks.
Unlike when Trump helped provoke a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol and attempted to retain force in 2021 after defeating Democrat Joe Biden, officials did not expect mass protests, riots or violence. Instead, cheering crowds celebrated Trump’s second term and MAGA. in general about the Republican Party.
Many came from all over the country and dressed in their most elegant clothes, adding fur coats. Trump supporters packed parties at Washington hotels and restaurants. As they moved through the festivities, some may be heard chanting “MAGA” or simply saying it as a greeting to other revelers.
The atmosphere was a remarkable turnaround from four years ago, when Trump left the nation’s capital in disgrace and skipped the inauguration of his successor. Trump blasted his way through the 2024 GOP presidential primary and won in November with an Electoral College margin unseen since Barack Obama was reelected in 2012.
Yet even with this comfortable victory and his full – if narrow – party in Congress, the new president is one of the most polarizing figures in American history, with at least as many fierce detractors only ardent supporters. That means it may be difficult for Trump to fulfill his post-election promises to promote bipartisanship while also easing political differences.
The president-elect insisted that unity would be the theme of his inauguration speech on Monday, along with strength and justice, but he also spent months as a candidate announcing that, if elected, he would seek revenge against his political enemies. .
“January 20th cannot come fast enough!,” Trump posted on his social media site. “Everybody, even those that initially opposed a Victory by President Donald J. Trump and the Trump Administration, just want it to happen.”
With frigid temperatures expected Monday, Trump ordered most of Monday’s events moved indoors, and officials held a practice session Sunday for his swearing-in in the U. S. Capitol rotunda, which was not It seats only six hundred people, compared to more than 250,000 visitors. that had tickets. to watch the inauguration from near the Capitol grounds.
Amid victory celebrations, Trump took to his social media to comment on the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the US ban on TikTok.
“Hostages starting to come out today! Three wonderful young women will be first,” Trump wrote.
Overnight, millions of U.S. users of TikTok lost the ability to watch videos on the social media platform as a federal ban on the app took effect. Though the site later began flickering to life for some users, the disruptions reflected a new law requiring its China-based parent company, ByteDance, to divest for national security reasons.
The company made a personal appeal to Trump to intervene, posting a message saying, “We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office.”
Trump then posted: “I’m asking corporations to not let TikTok stay in the dark! » He promised to draft an executive order Monday “to lengthen the period before the law’s prohibitions take effect so we can reach an agreement for our national security. “
The president-elect also wrote that he was interested in the United States owning 50% of TikTok under a “joint venture” model, although he did not give many details about what that would look like. New national security adviser Michael Waltz insisted that Trump can simply find a solution until Monday.
“I think we all be certain that he can make that type of deal,” Waltz told CBS’s “Face the Nation. “He also noted that Trump discussed TikTok in a weekend telephone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping and that they “agreed to paintings in combination on this topic. “
Trump also visited snow-covered graves at Arlington National Cemetery, where he and Vice President-elect JD Vance, dressed in dark coats and red ties, traveled together to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier for a wreath-laying rite that included dancing tap dancing . Trump said “thank you” after laying down the wreath.
The rite was also attended by his sons Eric and Donald Trump Jr. , daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, and other family members, as well as many of the president-elect’s picks for top Cabinet positions and several recipients of medals of honor. .
Trump and Vance then spent about a half hour at Section 60, the burial site for the bodies of Army workers killed in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, speaking with the families of three infantrymen who died in the bombing in Kabul airport in 2021, as well as a fourth who was killed. Unidentified.
The scene was far different than in August, when two Trump campaign staff members reportedly verbally “abused and pushed” aside a cemetery official who tried to stop them from filming and photographing in Section 60.