A jubilant Donald Trump vowed to act with “historic speed and force” when he returns to the White House on Monday, targeting illegal immigration, transgender rights and other right-wing priorities. He issued a series of presidential orders.
President Trump made a triumphant return to Washington on Sunday, holding a raucous “victory rally” with thousands of supporters at a downtown sports arena and declaring, “We won, we won.” “What a good feeling. We love winning, right? We’re going to make this country greater than ever.”
The soon-to-be 47th president gave a characteristically upbeat speech, a mix of boasts, false claims and far-reaching promises, setting the stage for his inauguration at noon Monday and the populist blitzkrieg that will follow.
“Starting tomorrow, I will act with historic speed and force to resolve every crisis facing our country,” he said.
“Every radical and stupid executive order of the Biden administration will be repealed within hours of me taking the oath of office. It’ll be so much fun to watch on TV.” Someone said yesterday, 1 Don’t sign so many in a day, let’s sign over a few weeks. I said, really…no, I’ll do it tomorrow.”
As he did on the campaign trail, Trump has pushed illegal immigration to the fore, portraying the US as a land of open borders besieged by violent thugs released from foreign prisons from as far away as Congo. I drew the composition. He played a video showing crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants.
“By sunset tomorrow, the invasion of our country will have stopped,” he said. “The border security measures I will outline in my inaugural address tomorrow will be the most aggressive and far-reaching effort to restore our borders the world has ever seen.”
President Trump reiterated his campaign promise to launch the largest deportation program in U.S. history, removing millions of immigrants. An operation of that scale would likely take years and cost a significant amount of money.
The event was the first major speech in Washington since his Jan. 6, 2021 speech that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of angry supporters. President Trump said he would pardon many of the more than 1,500 people convicted or charged in connection with the attack, calling them “hostages.”
He said: “Everyone in this very large arena tomorrow will be very happy with my decision for the J6 hostages. I’m very happy. I think you’ll be very, very happy.”
The pre-inauguration rally was unlike any a president-elect has held before. Thousands of people lined up outside Capital One Arena on a cold, gray, snowy day. Slogans on the sweaters included “Make America Great Again,” “Pro God, Pro Gun” and, in honor of January 6th, “Proud J6er.”
As President Trump descended the stairs as Lee Greenwood sang his signature campaign song, “God Bless the USA,” the crowd cheered, “USA! USA!” united states of america! “He stood on the red carpet under the basketball and ice hockey pennants, the top tier mostly empty, and promised to “take back our country.”
“Tomorrow at noon, four years of American decline will end and a brand new day of American strength, prosperity, dignity and pride will begin,” the president-elect said.
He went on to claim credit for Sunday’s release of hostages from Gaza and the return of TikTok to U.S. consumers. “TikTok is back today,” he said, falsely claiming that he “won the youth vote” thanks to support on the app. Trump increased his share of the young vote in 2024, but still lost that demographic to Kamala Harris.
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President Trump has said he will direct the military to build the “Iron Dome” missile defense system. He also vowed to “completely eliminate radical woke ideology from our military,” citing the training sergeant bullying scene in the movie “Full Metal Jacket” and his alleged ties to the Biden-Harris administration. It played a video that included clips of transgender individuals.
After the crowd roared, President Trump said, “We’re going to get critical race theory and transgender insanity out of our schools…This is going to happen tomorrow. We’re going to keep men out of women’s sports. Masu.”
He said he plans to fly to Los Angeles on Friday to assess the damage caused by wildfires that have killed at least 27 people and destroyed California’s largest urban area in at least 40 years.
Trump also promised to end the “excessive classification” of government documents, an apparent reference to the federal charges he faced for possessing classified documents after he left office. He promised to release classified documents related to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
The rally featured the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who spent $200 million to help Trump win the election and is leading a task force to cut government spending.
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To the cheers of the crowd, Musk said: This victory is just the start. What’s important going forward is making real changes and laying the foundations that will make America strong for centuries and forever. And let’s make America great again. ”
While praising Musk and his young son, who joined him on stage, Trump appeared to reference the “racehorse theory,” the idea that certain bloodlines produce superior offspring. “If you believe in the racehorse theory, he’s going to have a wonderful, smart son,” Trump said of Musk.
The term, which President Trump previously described as meaning “fast horses breed fast horses,” is a reference to racehorse breeding. The term has sometimes been utilized by white supremacists, Nazis, and eugenicists to promote racial purity.
The rally also featured a performance by musician Kid Rock and speeches from Hollywood actor Jon Voight, Trump’s sons Eric and Don Jr., and granddaughter Kai.
Mr. Trump concluded his hour-long speech with a performance by the Village People, who sang the YMCA anthem that has ended nearly all of Mr. Trump’s campaign rallies. Trump swayed on stage, banged his head and sang along to the performance.
MAGA believers welcomed President Trump’s plan for the January 6 riot. “He needs to forgive them,” said Felecia Hicks, 30, of McAlester, Oklahoma. “My mom was there that day, so there’s a good chance she was one of the people who were falsely accused. It is located in
“I think it was the Capitol Police that instigated a lot of it, and I think a lot of infiltrators who appeared to be Trump supporters fueled the chaos. People who were innocently accused of crimes and have not received proper justice. There are a lot of them.”
Hicks, a special education assistant who has supported Trump since 2016, said of Trump’s other plans: I think he has a lot of work to do, and I don’t want to be the one to prioritize what needs to be done first. ”
Reina DeCapua, 52, of Carmel, Indiana, was attending her first Trump rally. “He’ll be a great president.” I like his policies. I like it when he tells you what he thinks. He has a set of balls. ”
He added that President Trump’s priorities should be eliminating illegal immigration, completing the southern border wall and preserving the 2017 tax cuts.
Irving King, 49, from Washington, D.C., said he came to see wrestler Hulk Hogan, a fan of his since he was a boy. “He’s a conservative, so it makes sense that he’s a Trump supporter,” he said. “Trump is on the right track because we need change. I hope he makes it a little easier for us to pay our groceries and pay our bills.”
