Washington: It was an inauguration that set the tone for a second-term presidency more emboldened and unchecked than the first.

Six months after he was almost assassinated, Donald Trump embarked on one of the most expansive demonstrations of presidential power in years, using his inauguration speech to unveil a blizzard of executive actions that he said would usher in a new “golden age” and a “revolution of common sense”.

President Donald Trump during his address at his inauguration.Credit: AP

“America’s decline is over,” he said.

Speaking in the Capitol rotunda – the same building his supporters stormed four years ago as they tried to stop Joe Biden’s election victory – Trump vowed to immediately declare a national emergency at the US-Mexico border and send the military to ensure illegal immigrants stayed out.

He said he would end government programs promoting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), ramp up energy production – “drill, baby, drill” – across the US and set up an external revenue service to collect tariffs he plans to impose on foreign countries.

As he ambitiously moves to expand America’s global footprint, he reiterated his desire to seize the Panama Canal and also said he would rename the........

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