Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. At around noon Eastern, Donald Trump was sworn in as the forty seventh US president, shortly after he made his second inaugural address. He stood not on the National Mall as he did in twenty seventeen, but in the capital Rotunda. The inauguration proceedings had been
forced indoors due to extreme cold weather in Washington. Surrounded by Republicans and Democrats, including some of his most outspoken critics, Trump took the stage, thank you very very much, and while he painted a picture of America in chaos and decline, we now.
Have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad.
He claimed to be a unifier and a peacemaker.
The entire nation is rapidly unified behind our agenda, with dramatic increases in support from virtually every element of our society.
And promised that a new age for the country was starting under his administration.
The Golden Age of America begins right now. From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.
He also outlined the policies he planned to prioritize immediately, from executive orders on immigration and energy to trade negotiations and taxes. To Peggy Collins, Bloomberg's Washington, DC Bureau chief, the language in Trump's remarks about unity and division, peace and disorder, paired with these priorities, set up the key questions that will define his presidency.
How do the policies are the economy, immigration, energy, reshaping of the federal government. Do they end up being ones that do make America more unified, more confident, more proud, or do they further some of the fractions and partisan nature that we've seen built over the past few decades here in the US.
Today, on the show, its inauguration Day. What Trump's speeches at the Capitol can tell us about what to expect from him and his administration in the coming hours and days and across the next four years. This is the big take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder, Peggy. We're talking at around two thirty pm on Monday. We just watched Donald Trump get sworn in as the forty seventh
president of the United States. When Trump gave his inauguration speech today, what stood out from your seat in Washington.
I think a couple of things stood out. I think the fact that Trump really was leaning into the fact that he had a mandate and felt like that mandate was a signal that he could turn the country into a more unified nation. And that also he really felt that that mandate that he got winning all seven swing states the popular vote, a range of voters who he thanked in terms of black voters, Hispanic voters.
Black and Hispanic communities. I want to thank.
You auto workers, and thank you.
To the auto workers of our nation for your ins.
That is something that he really called out to as a way of saying that he had the mandate to move forward on a couple of main fronts. And we saw him really call out immigration and the border as an issue that he felt unified voters toward him, and that was one of the things that he said he was going to act on first and foremost as he takes the first day or two of his second term
as president of the US. I think another thing that really stood out to me was this idea of national security and national emergencies as a couple of the governing principles of how they are actually going to put their policies in place and get things done. Another example of that, in addition to immigration and border security, is what they announced in terms of energy and calling it really a national emergency action to drill more because that will give
us more strength abroad. As Trump is saying from his point of view.
Today, I will also declare a national energy emergency. We will drill, baby, drill.
What kind of tone did Trump take on that stage today?
Well, in terms of his inaugural address on Capitol Hill, because it was inside due to the frigid cold here in DC, so his first address to the nation really this morning had a bit more of a solemn tone. The speech really he reminded me of when we were covering the primaries in Iowa New Hampshire in early twenty twenty four, when we talked to voters who went to his rallies, who said they really felt like he was
going to fight for them. We did then see Trump come back again a little bit later and speak to more supporters in the Capitol building.
I just want to say, you're a younger, far more beautiful audience that I just spoke to.
And at that point he did go back to some of the themes that we've heard him address in some of his rallies that lead into more in terms of January sixth, and feeling like he's coming back to the stage and has some things that he didn't get done in the first term that he wants to do again.
Now, I was.
Going to talk about the Jay six hostages, but you'll be happy because you know it's action nut words account and you're going to see a lot of action on the JA six houstage to a lot of arment.
What kind of policies did he promise to enact? First thing in his remarks today.
The buckets that he talked about out of the gate today and his officials have as well, were some of the ones we expected. They're around immigration.
First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border.
The economy, which would include tariff policies.
We will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens, as.
Well as energy and policies around federal workers. That includes DEI policies as well as we're expecting some potential actions around bringing the federal workforce back to work and leaning into doze.
My administration will establish the brand new Department of Government efficiency.
It's not a department formally, but an effort led by Musk to bring more efficiency to the federal government. Still to be determined how they roll out those actions and where first in terms of different departments across the federal government, but that is something we're really on watch for because it really ties into federal spending and fiscal policy. This effort around efficiency and where they might take that. It dovetails really with another key pillar that Bloomberg will be
covering closely, which is fiscal spending and tax policy. We're expecting tax policy to be a huge focus in the first half of the year for Republicans and Democrats really on the hill with the twenty seventeen tax reform bill coming up for renewal.
As you surveyed the crowd in the Capital, give us a sense of who was in this cast of characters from Trump's incoming administration and from Trump World broadly, and what they tell us about how this administration will govern.
What we did see, which is different than potentially in years past, was a real presence of CEOs in some
of the front rows in the Capitol building. As Trump was doing his inaugural address and being sworn in So that includes people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and others, and certainly also there today were a number of Trump's nominees for key cabinet up positions and top positions across his government, and we will be reporting on in the days ahead the continued confirmation hearings and votes to confirm that cabinet going forward.
Well, let's zero in on big tech for a moment. Who are some of those key CEOs and tech leaders that were in the audience and that are expected to play a key role in this administration.
So some of the names we saw today echo some of the reporting we've done over the last several months in terms of who traveled quickly to mar A Lago to see Trump after he wanted the election. So that includes Tim Cook from Apple, Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook, Jeff Bezos from Amazon. Tech has played a big presence in the lead up to Trump's inauguration in terms of making visits to see him. Because the policies around tech regulation and crypto regulation, which is another big area we expect
to be in focus quickly in Trump's second term. It really matters for a lot of these companies in terms of their bottom line. Policies like tariffs, like immigration, like being able to hire workers from around the world, all our front and center for their success in their business going forward as global multinational big tech companies.
Looking at some of the other attendees and participants at inauguration today, Trump didn't attend Joe Biden's inauguration. Were you surprised to see the Bidens were in attendance today?
The Biden administration and the Bidens themselves have been very clear for a couple of months now that they intended to follow through with the traditional pass off and passing of the torch from one administration to another by attending today's inauguration, by hosting the Trumps at the White House
ahead of time, having some calls and conversations. So they have been clear about that since the election was called, in terms of posturing ahead for America in a way that returned to some of those traditions of the peaceful transfer of power.
After the peaceful transfer of power comes Trump's first one hundred days in office. What we know about Trump's immediate priorities and how they could play out after the break. When we spoke at around two thirty pm on Monday, I asked Peggy Collins, Bloomberg's Washington bureau chief, about the directives Trump previewed in his inauguration speech and what they say about his top priorities.
A couple of his top priorities are clearly going to be around securing the border. That is something that they came out with right away in terms of his speeches, and we're anticipating that executive orders and actions today and in the days ahead will very much so focus on that, ending catch and release, sending troops to the southern border, for example, changing some of the rules around refugee status and asylum seekers. So we expect that to happen over
the next several hours and into tomorrow. Another key one is making America energy dominant, as they phrased it today again, so that is a number of the actions will be around making it easier to drill for oil, ending some of the Green New Deal policies that were enacted during the Biden administration, retracting some of the electric vehicle mandates that a number of Republicans felt went too far, and really trying to lean into supporting order workers through those
policies as well. And then certainly efforts around the economy to lower prices, though that is going to be more difficult to do through executive orders and actions. But also the tariff policies that we've been talking about some in terms of making America more competitive, as Trump said, in the global sphere by countering some of the policies in places like Europe, Mexico, Canada, China, and that is going to be a big focus. And then the federal workforce
and DEI policies. We expect them to roll back some of the DEI policies that are in and have been enacted at federal departments and also really push for federal workers to come back to the office and for more efficiency in the federal workforce in terms of sheer numbers potentially.
Trump mentioned tariffs, but we still don't have details or specifics on what those will look like when they'll be rolled out. What are global trade partners bracing for, and what did he say today that might give them a hint.
Well, I think market certainly took some of the news today that there weren't going to be tariffs announced on specific country trees as soon as today as a good thing. Certainly, the dollar reacted to that earlier. Today When it comes to other countries, though, I think a couple of things
are important to note. One is somewhat of a shift towards China in terms of bringing them back to the table sooner, and maybe that will mean some restraint in terms of specific or immediate China tariffs to follow on from the first administration. Our reporting here in DC over the past few weeks has also indicated that Trump advisors are discussing some type of gradual tariff policy that might enact smaller tariffs that would level up if the negotiating
between countries didn't go well. Another thing I think to note from our reporting is that the European Union is going to be in sharp focus this time around for the Trump administration. And of course Trump has already mentioned Mexico and Canada, both of which are very much so tied to his energy policies as well as his immigration policy.
See Our reporting shows that the Trump administration does see tariffs with countries like Mexico as a potential way to bring Mexico and Latin America to the negotiating table to help stem the flow of migrants across the border. Trump said it, and his administration has said they want to bring back remain in Mexico, which they felt really did stem the flow of migrants across the border. In Trump one point zero.
Heggett, you mentioned Trump kept talking about the fact that he's entering office with this mandate. What exactly does that mean.
What we saw today from President Trump is he does feel like he has a mandate to govern and potentially govern in a way that may move faster and employ different things than presidents have in the past. We are expecting a deluge of executive orders and actions today, as many as one hundred, or some people think we could
get as many as two hundred today. That's just an example of how his administration feels they have the mandate from the American people to move on a variety of issues in ways that we might not have seen presidents do in the past. Whereas they might have taken one hundred days to get a number of their key initiatives in as they took hold of the presidency, we're seeing President Trump move as quickly as in one day, one hundred executive orders.
Trump denied the results of the twenty twenty election baselessly. He's overstated how sweeping his twenty twenty four victory was how popular do you think his actual policies will be this time around.
I think two things will come to the forefront pretty quickly. One is that you know, success on the border to potentially stem the flow of migrants may be something that people do really relate to quickly and give the president credit for if that happens, not only in southern border states, but as we saw a number of blue cities like Chicago, New York and others really felt the impact of migrants coming across the border in large numbers. The second is
more complicated. A lot of what we talked about in our reporting on the campaign trail was the issue of inflation, the economy and prices. It was the first selection since COVID really and people across the country have been hurting really from the rise in prices coming out of COVID on a variety of different levels and on daily goods like we talked a lot about eggs, but we also
talked a lot about utility bills and other prices. That is going to be harder for the Trump administration to get its hands around quickly because there are so many different factors that impact that they're certainly the FED, but in recent weeks we've even seen numbers come out in terms of great jobs numbers, surprisingly good jobs numbers, and also mortgage rates go higher rather than lower. So there are a lot of factors in the economy that the President may not be able to get his hands around
right away and make a change in terms of lowering prices. Also, a number of economists say that tariffs could increase inflation rather than decrease it, and that widespread deportation of immigrants could also increase inflation rather than decrease it, because we might not have as many workers to do the jobs that we need in this country.
In the hours after Peggy and I spoke, Trump signed a number of executive orders.
So I'm going to go right over to here and I'm going to sign in front of you. Is that okay?
Good? These included pardoning the January sixth defendants, instituting a hiring freeze for most federal agencies, and taking the first step in pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement. He also signed an action aimed at ending birthrights citizenship in some cases, and continued to falsely claim the twenty twenty election was ripped, so.
Now the work begins. We won. We won, but now the work begins. We have to bring them home.
This is the Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder. This episode was produced by Alex Tie. It was edited by Greg White and Naomi Shaven, who was also our senior producer, who was fact checked by Adrianna Tapia. It was mixed and sound designed by Alex Sugiura. Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso. Our executive producer is Nicole Beemster. Bor Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. If you liked this episode, make sure to subscribe and review The
Big Take wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps people find the show. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.