Author: Ba Jiuling, Source: Wu Xiaobo Channel
The rotunda of the U.S. Capitol is famous for its breathtaking dome.
As far as the eye can see, 54 meters above, is a ceiling mural called "Washington Ascension": Washington, the founding father of the United States, ascended to heaven and stood shoulder to shoulder with the gods; below the painting is a circle of sculptures called the "American Historical Ribbon", from Columbus's landing to the development of the aviation industry, more than 200 years of American history are vividly displayed.
Image source: Reuters
In this atmosphere of "ancestors above, heaven and earth as witnesses", Trump completed the American coming-of-age ceremony - the inauguration ceremony of the new president.
If your impression of this day is still stuck on the intensive measures announced yesterday (as shown below), why not follow us to change your taste today.
Thousands of photographers around the world recorded this historic moment. We used 5 moments and 20 matching pictures to restore a fuller first day of the president's inauguration.
Image source: New York Post
Inauguration Day is full of grand scenes, grand ceremonies and photo-taking. On such a world-class stage, clothing and outfits, including color, cut and details, will become the focus.
The first lady's special hat, the senator who entered the venue in a hoodie and shorts, the vice president's wife who wore brighter colors than most people, and Hillary's brooch became the focus of heated discussion among fashion editors.
Image source: Getty Images, Reuters
But when Trump appeared in the camera, his tie quickly attracted attention.
Unlike the bright red of the past, the new tie is a mixture of red and blue, which creates a purple effect.
Fashion editor commented: "In my world, the softer the signal, the less I need to shout. I don't need to project. I've already arrived."
The origin of Trump's suit is unknown, but it is undoubtedly made in the United States.
In the new era that Trump is about to usher in, he still has a beautiful vision of the return of American manufacturing. The suit on his body may be one of the driving forces. This is a sad story: the clothing manufacturing industry in the United States has been in decline, and some factories that produced clothing for previous inauguration ceremonies have long ceased to exist.
Source: Reuters
On the day of Trump's inauguration, the world also entered the annual "Davos World Economic Forum" time, providing a "world economic weathervane" for the new year.
In the past, from heads of state and dignitaries to leaders and executives of large companies, they would gather in the Swiss town of Davos. But today, a dozen of them who are the most important among them surrounded Trump and occupied the best seats of the ceremony.
Pete Hegseth, the nominee for Secretary of Defense, even had to pass through their shoulders to watch the ceremony.
Their total net worth exceeds $1.3 trillion. The best seats were reserved for the three technology giants sitting behind the Trump family: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.
Image source: Bloomberg
Other tycoons attending the ceremony included LVMH CEO and France's richest man Bernard Arnault, Google (Alphabet) co-founder Sergey Brin, CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Las Vegas Sands major shareholder Miriam Adelson, hedge fund leader John Paulson, media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Musk was undoubtedly the most watched one among them. When Trump's speech mentioned "planting the Star-Spangled Banner on Mars", he excitedly waved his fist. A few hours later, he officially received the executive order, and the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) was established. He was greeted by an office that could accommodate 20 people.
Image source: Guancha.com
Eight years ago, Trump broke into the White House alone. Eight years later, behind him stands the world's richest and most influential business leader. The only flaw was Huang Renxun's absence. That day, he was attending the company's annual meeting in Beijing and experienced Huawei's tri-fold screen.
The media also found Zhou Shouzi in the crowd. His TikTok recently experienced ups and downs from shutdown to recovery within 14 hours. Trump's new executive order temporarily suspended the ban on it in the United States and gave it a 75-day grace period.
But behind the carrot is a stick. He also threatened: If it is not approved, tax will be increased.
Source: Getty Images
The first sentence of the U.S. Constitution is that all legislative power belongs to the United States Congress, which is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Trump deliberately chose this place to complete the transfer of power.
The second sentence is that the executive power belongs to the President of the United States of America. Trump used the pen in his hand to announce the "return of the king."
On the day of his inauguration, Trump actually gave three speeches. The one known to the world was his inaugural speech in the Capitol. The second speech took place after he saw Biden off on a Navy helicopter. He gave an impromptu speech at a rally of supporters elsewhere in the Capitol.
Image source: EPA
At this time, the familiar Trump appeared.
He repeated his old tune of accusing the 2020 election of being "rigged" and boasting about his large-scale victory in the 2024 election. He said that he was somewhat acting just now and was reluctant to talk about "unity" in his inaugural address.
But this time he can not only say it, but also do it.
On this day, he signed a total of 46 documents, including executive orders, statements, memoranda, etc. Among them, there were 26 executive orders, setting a record for the number of executive orders issued in a single day.
Image source: Getty Images
Their focus seems to be one and only one "internal affairs". According to statistics from Minsheng Securities, administrative department reform, border and immigration, and energy and environment ranked in the top three of the signed documents.
If you want to highlight the key words in "internal affairs", it is undoubtedly Biden.
Trump directly signed an executive order to "revoke the executive order of the previous government", and at the same time launched a comprehensive liquidation of Biden in various fields.
To name a few: He stopped Biden’s “Green New Deal” aimed at promoting green jobs, regulating the fossil fuel industry and limiting pollution. At the same time, he declared a national energy emergency and vowed to “keep drilling” for more American fossil fuels; stopped all “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) programs within the federal government under Biden’s leadership; revoked Biden’s decision to remove Cuba from the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism; reviewed the work of the Biden administration’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and more.
Image source: Reuters
BBC commented: Trump turned an ordinary presidential act - revoking the orders of the previous government of different parties - into a farce. And he obviously enjoyed it. While signing, he also challenged: "Can you imagine Joe Biden doing this?"
At least Biden would not throw the pen for signing documents into the audience.
Image source: Reuters
After the 78-year-old Trump did the 8-year-old child's move, he returned to the White House to continue issuing orders. At midnight, he announced on social media that he had issued "formal notices of dismissal" to four officials appointed by Biden, and claimed that there would be more than 1,000 to come.
Image source: Truth Social
It seems difficult to find a US president who can compare with Trump in history. But Trump now has his counterpart: a US president who is not well known to the Chinese and is not regarded as great by most Americans: William McKinley.
He has been obsessed with world geography in recent days. On his first day in office, he made two geography-related decisions:
First, he announced that the Gulf of Mexico would be renamed the Gulf of the United States. The related executive order, "Restoring the naming of the great United States," has also been signed.
Here is a tidbit. The New York Post captured that at the inauguration ceremony, Trump said, "Soon, we will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of the United States." He won the audience's standing and applause, and also won Hillary's loud laughter.
Video screenshot: From the New York Post
Second, the highest mountain in Alaska, "Mount Denali", was renamed "Mount McKinley" - this move slapped Obama in the face. In 2015, he changed the name using the language of Alaska Native Americans - Trump believes that this is a distortion of history to cater to the ideas of liberals.
Making McKinley the "highest mountain" again is also the peak that Trump wants to reach.
McKinley was the 25th president of the United States, 125 years apart from Trump, equivalent to half of the history of the United States, and his ending was miserable, he died in an assassination, but what he did coincides with what Trump is doing now.
During his term, he expanded the territory of the United States, annexing territories including Cuba, Hawaii and the Philippines, while Trump's territorial goals have already covered Mars.
McKinley's financial backer was J.P. Morgan, who received $250,000 in campaign funds, while Trump is now backed by influential technology, financial and oil tycoons.
It sounds like Trump is a replica of McKinley. When Trump took office, he said: "We will impose tariffs and taxes on foreign countries to make our citizens rich. ”
At the end of the 19th century, McKinley’s era was called the “Gilded Age”. Coincidentally, Trump’s inaugural speech opened with “America’s Golden Age” and ended with “Our Golden Age”.
Image source: New York Post
The golden age described by Trump still has at least four years of operation cycle, and the financial market is paying attention to the opportunity of "gold rush", but on the first day, uncertainty made traders anxious.
In the executive order, the much-watched "tariff" is temporarily absent, with only two directional statements of "imposing tariffs on foreign countries" and "establishing a foreign tax bureau". The Economist commented: This president, who is known for his outspokenness, rarely showed ambiguity on major issues this time.
This triggered fluctuations in the financial market.
The US dollar experienced its first correction in many days, with the US dollar index falling 1.2%. The only injured were Canada and Mexico, which were announced to impose tariffs, and the Canadian dollar fell to its lowest point in nearly five years.
Image source: Yingwei Finance
The day before, the RMB rebounded sharply late at night. The offshore RMB rose 1% to 7.26 on the same day, and received and paid five barriers in succession. However, analysts strictly reminded "not to read too much into Trump's performance on the first day of his presidency."
Bitcoin also experienced a morning rise and a subsequent decline. Cryptocurrency is another promise that Trump has not yet fulfilled on the first day.
As the saying goes, buy expectations and sell realization. In contrast, on the first trading day after Trump took office, the stock price of his company Trump Media Technology Group fell by 11%. They are waiting for new stimulus, but it should not take too long.
This day is just an appetizer. As a senior American media person said: "In the next four years, Mr. Trump's words and deeds will continue to surprise us - many are good, some are bad, and many are unexpected or hilarious. Americans will experience a crazy journey. Sometimes this dissonance will be confusing. Fasten your seat belts, everyone."
As we Chinese say, it means: "May you be blessed."
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