Fiery Trump offers nationalist vision to end ‘this American carnage’

WASHINGTON - In his first, fiery words as the nation's 45th president, Donald Trump put forth a nationalist vision of America, breaking with tradition to invoke his unapologetically raw campaign, rebuke the country's principal political parties and offer a populist ode to the 'forgotten” people who had elected him.

'Today, we're not transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another, but we're transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people. For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost,” he told supporters gathered under damp skies along the National Mall.

'That all changes starting right here and right now, because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you.”

Deploying unusually gritty rhetoric for an inaugural address, Trump, 70, portrayed a bleak nation in need of saving and cast himself as its savior, much as he did last July when he accepted the Republican presidential nomination.

He described 'mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.”

'This American carnage stops right here and right now,” he declared.

The only president never to have previously held public or military office, Trump promised to snuff out 'radical Islamic terrorism” and protect Americans. He vowed to end what he characterized as the slide of a nation too deferential to other countries. He pledged to restore factory jobs, secure the nation's borders, expand airports and railways and focus inward on America's needs.

'Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families,” Trump said. 'We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.”

Trump's speech lasted just under 17 minutes as violent protests flared outside the security perimeter, with more than 200 arrested.

From artillery on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol reverberated a 21-gun salute. From hundreds of thousands of supporters came a roar of unfiltered joy.

'It was absolutely awesome,” said Cindy Golding, a former Linn County GOP chairwoman. 'Our friends were telling us we shouldn't go because of all the hype about how bad it is going to be. We did not see a single protester.”

She was among those who witnessed the inauguration of an unprecedented president, a brash New York celebrity developer who channeled dissatisfaction with a changing global order into an unorthodox campaign buoyed by defectors from the political left and right.

'Jan. 20, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again,” Trump said. 'The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer. Everyone is listening to you now.”

Toward the end of his speech, which despite its overtly political tone was more embellished than his usual remarks, he turned more conciliatory, envisioning unification of a divided country through patriotism.

But the bulk of Trump's address was defiant and reminiscent of his polarizing campaign. And the crowd loved it. In unison, it chanted with the him as he built to his trademark: 'Make America Great Again.”

Befitting a nation deeply riven by politics, the pageantry inside the security perimeter contrasted with the tumult outside it, as protests raged across Washington, prompting barricades, tear gas and flash bangs just blocks from the inaugural parade.

Trump enters office with the lowest incoming-president approval in modern times, following a bitterly divisive election in which he lost the popular vote and after a 72-day transition in which he made few overt attempts at conciliation.

Trump appointed no Hispanics and no Democrats to his Cabinet. Just six days before his swearing-in, he was feuding with a civil-rights icon and congressman on Twitter, prompting at least 67 Democratic lawmakers to skip the inauguration.

But the political math favors Trump: Republicans control both chambers of Congress and could empower the new president to enact a sweeping agenda, assuming lawmakers find agreement with a president of unfixed ideology.

'President Trump outlined a bold agenda to put America first, and now it's time for Congress to get to work,” said a statement from Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Official crowd estimates for the swearing-in were not available, but overhead camera shots showed the number was undeniably smaller than the roughly 2 million who turned out to the 2009 inaugural of the nation's first black president, Barack Obama.

An ailing former President George H.W. Bush was absent ('My doctor says if I sit outside in January, it will likely put me six feet under,” he wrote Trump, excusing himself), but all other living ex-presidents - Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama - were present for the speech.

So was Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, who on occasion smiled as she endured watching someone else assume the presidency. The new president later said he was honored by her presence at the traditional congressional luncheon.

Now former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama jetted off one last time Friday on the executive 747 airplane no longer designated Air Force One to Palm Springs, Calif., for a desert vacation.

The Miami Herald, the Washington Post and The Gazette staff contributed to this report.