Trump toward inauguration: TikTok ‘is back,’ anxiety as well

In a frigid and armored Washington, Donald Trump is preparing to take office as the 47th president of the United States and return to the White House, which he had left four years ago, defeated and branded with ignominy for having hatched the January 6, 2021 attack on democracy.

After being sworn in under the Congressional Rotunda, for the first time indoors since 1985, Trump intends to issue dozens of executive orders, covering the suspension of the TikTok ban – the app already resumed operation yesterday, after a few hours of self-suspension, a publicity stunt for himself and Trump -; the start of deportation of undocumented migrants, that is, illegally in the United States; and the pardoning of subversives on Jan. 6.

Other subjects touched upon may be the application of universal or country-specific tariffs differentiated by type of products, energy, the environment, tax reform benefiting corporations and the wealthy, raising the federal debt ceiling, and cuts in federal spending programs. Measures that often cannot be taken by presidential decree but require a more complex legislative process.

It lends itself to Trump’s intention to put much of his agenda into a single piece of legislation, which Congress could pass with a simple majority by implementing the process known as “reconciliation.” We shall see if this will be the case.

Despite revised and scaled-down programs ‘due to frost,’ from the swearing-in to the speech, from the parade that will not be along Pennsylvania Avenue to the dances that, instead, should take place normally, Trump did not give up a crowd bath with tens of thousands of his supporters last night, under the Capital One Arena: just a part of the estimated 250,000 fans who came to Washington from all over the Union.

In the U.S. media analysis, Trump’s second inauguration in the White House is different from the first, because the election happened differently: this time, the tycoon also won the popular vote, and decisively, with more than two million votes by a margin and a turnout of just under 64 percent (compared to about 2/3 in 2020); and because the optimism of his supporters prevails over the concern of those who do not support him, indeed are opposed to him, but came out defeated and discouraged by USA 2024.

Washington itself remains substantially hostile to the new president, who, however, building on the experience of his first term, has put a lot of effort in the transition phase to identify and expel the so-called ‘deep state,’ that is, those within the institutions who may stand in his way. Thus, reports the Washington Post, dozens of career diplomats are about to resign from the State Department at the request of Trump’s staff. The same happens in other departments, such as the Treasury, Energy, Environment, Defense, Homeland Security; and intelligence agencies.

The request for resignation, the prerogative of any incoming Administration, indicates a desire for rapid change in line with the president-elect’s priorities, which, in foreign policy, include tariffs, ending the war in Ukraine and consolidating the cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

That leaves the judiciary, against which many illegal or unconstitutional initiatives of the Trump Administration broke down in the first term. But this is where Trump has already acted: in his first term, he appointed more judges of all ranks than any other president before him; and the effect has already been seen, because, in the electoral process and in the parallel judicial context, the conservative-dominated Supreme Court has served him well.

Thus, the resistance to Trump 2 may be different, but also more tenuous, than that to Trump 1. And as it prepares to welcome a president it does not want, Washington bids farewell to Joe Biden, whom it had greeted with relief four years ago, but who leaves unpopular and unloved, leaving a legacy chock-full of contradictions,” even though – the liberal press argues – ‘history may be more generous to him’ than the record these days.

Biden has tried in recent weeks to put some of his achievements-from civil rights to the environment to energy-under cover of Trump’s iconoclasm. But there are those who fear that he has not succeeded: there is, therefore, an increase in gay unions, for example, amid fears that Trump or Trumpian-observant states will undermine their validity and/or recognition.

Democrats, for that matter, are also counting those they can count on and turncoats. These include the entire hi-tech world, which, following the north star of profit and opportunism, has migrated en bloc under the winner’s tents, even overcoming old rusts with its ‘digital twin’ Elon Musk: from Mark Zuckerberg to Jeff Bezos to Shou Zi Chew, the CEO of TikTok, who has put on a whole pantomime to allow Trump to appear decisive there where Biden had already given his okay to keep the App, waiting for the new Administration’s deliberations.

Concerns and distrusts are not only in Washington, in a wait marked by hopes and fears, from the Middle East to Ukraine, from the EU to China. Among the guest leaders at Trump’s inauguration, Giorgia Meloni is the only premier of an EU country: there are those who read in it a signal of Italy’s influence and those who find in it a confirmation of Trump’s design, which does not appreciate multilateralism, to divide his interlocutors, whether they are allies or partners, friends or adversaries. When one then considers that the only other head of state or government present is Argentina’s Javier Milei the company does not appear reassuring.

The return to America First in foreign policy, an isolationist manifesto, clashes with the return of U.S. imperialism in Trump’s intentions to ‘annex’ Canada as the 51st state, to acquire Greenland and to regain control of the Panama Canal: “It’s the resurrection of American masculine energy,” a testosterone-fueled jolt to the Union; ‘It’s a return to the Manifest Destiny’ of the American nation, says Charlier Kirk, who with his group Turning Point has pushed many Trumpians usually reluctant to go to the polls to vote.

The AP notes, “Downplaying the importance of national borders and talking about the use of force against allied NATO member countries marks a stunning departure from decades of respect for territorial sovereignty. It is rhetoric that analysts say could encourage America’s enemies to think that Washington now accepts the use of force to redraw borders, as is happening in Ukraine and as could happen with Taiwan.”

Trump’s allies argue that his muscular speeches are part of his complex negotiating tactics. Aside from the fact that in his first term the results of these complex negotiating tactics have not been seen, neither with Russia nor with China, much less with North Korea, despite three summit meetings with dictator Kim Jong-un, Michael McFaul, ambassador to Moscow during the Obama presidency, finds Trump’s language counterproductive to the U.S. national interest.

USA 2024: Trump’s speech at Capitol One Arena.
“We will stop the border invasion” immediately: after being sworn in, ‘I will act quickly’ to address all the crises the United States is grappling with. Donald Trump assured this by promising his supporters that he will “end the American decline,” restore the American Dream, and launch “the best four years in history.”

The president-elect took the stage at the Capital One Arena evidently satisfied and beaming, greeted by an ovation. He tells us, and summarizes his words, Serena Di Ronza, ANSA colleague bravissima.

“With your vote 75 days ago you saved the country. We inherit a disaster at home and abroad,” she told her fans. But “I will fight for you every single day. I will swear for you as the 47th president of the United States,” he added, pledging to ”end the war in Ukraine, resolve the chaos in the Middle East and avoid World War III. You don’t know how close we are.”

Riding on all the campaign promises of the past year and a half, Trump dwelt on the issue he holds most dear: immigration. “Border invasion will end. Crime is down all over the world. Do you want to know why? Because other countries have emptied their prisons here with us,” he argued.

According to rumors, among the first executive orders the new president will sign is the one on the emergency at the border with Mexico, by which new anti-migrant funds will be released, military personnel will be deployed to help build new facilities at the border, and Remain in Mexico, a program requiring those seeking asylum in the United States to reside in the north in Mexico while their case is being reviewed, will be revived. Trump also plans to declare drug cartels terrorist organizations.

In his last show as president-elect in front of his supporters, Trump wanted loyal ‘first buddy’ Elon Musk on stage. The billionaire rose jubilantly, followed by his son X. “Victory is just the beginning. We will make America stronger for the next centuries,” he said evidently excited. Two of Trump’s sons, Donald Jr and Eric, also took the stage. “We’re going to take back the country once and for all,” Donald Jr. remarked, before turning the floor over to his daughter Kai.

“This is the greatest movement ever created,” Eric echoed him, while his wife Lara described the president-elect as the savior ”not just of the United States, but of the World.”

Inside the arena, the atmosphere was triumphant. Despite the frost and snow and despite the inability to witness Trump’s swearing-in in person, his supporters were beaming and ready to celebrate the start of a new chapter without Joe Biden and under the leadership of their hero.

To them Trump addressed several times during the hour-long rally: “Thank you,” he said repeatedly, “Without you it would not have been possible.”