Following his swearing-in as the 47th President of the United States on January 20th, President Trump delivered his second inaugural address. For Jennifer Mercieca, as an unmitigated declaration of power, Trump’s address was unlike any that had come before it. She writes that the inaugural was a departure from a traditional celebration of American democracy to a war speech where Trump claimed a mandate from God and the people to enact his agenda and to redefine what it means to be an American.
- This article is part of ‘The 2024 Elections’ series curated by Peter Finn (Kingston University). Ahead of the 2024 election, this series is exploring US elections at the state and national level. If you are interested in contributing to the series, contact Peter Finn (p.finn@kingston.ac.uk).
On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump became just the second president in American history—following Grover Cleveland—to deliver two non-consecutive Inaugural Addresses. It was an unusual speech, in more ways than one. Trump’s speech was unusual because it was an unmitigated declaration of power unlike any previous Inaugural Address in American history. Trump had campaigned for president with threats that he would use the awesome powers of the office to seek political “retribution” and promised to be a “dictator on day one.” Did Trump give the speech of a president or—as he had promised—did he give the speech of a dictator? And, if he gave a speech of a dictator, then how did he assert dictatorial power?
The Inaugural Address is about the new president’s values
Presidents typically use their Inaugural Address to articulate their view of government and American values. As scholars Karlyn Kohrs Campbell and Kathleen Hall Jamieson have explained, Inaugural Addresses define the nation, invoke the values that guide it, set presidential expectations, and assure us that the new president understands the “requirements and limitations” of the office.
That last bit is essential to the nation’s free government—a president is not a King, a tyrant, or an autocrat. As the nation’s Founders designed it the American presidency is a fixed-term office with carefully delimited powers, but it’s also the most powerful political position in the world. With that in mind, America’s previous presidents took pains to assure the nation “that they recognize and respect constitutional limits on executive authority.”
Campbell and Jamieson explain that presidents typically do three things to allay the nation’s fears of tyrannical power: they affirm the balance of power between the co-equal branches of government, they claim a mandate from the people to show that they merely intend to represent the people’s will, and they show evidence of humility by noting the difficulty of the position, accepting the burdens of the office, and praying for God to protect and care for the nation. Each of these rhetorical moves signals that the new president accepts both awesome and limited powers—a difficult balance.
Trump’s speech differed from previous presidents who used their Inaugural Address to carefully assert and limit their new power. Like others have done, Trump claimed a mandate from the people, but he did not affirm the balance of power, nor did he show evidence of humility.
A war speech
Trump made three moves in his speech that can be understood as authorizing his assumption of dictatorial powers: first, he claimed that the nation is in crisis and said the he would use his powers under the National Emergencies Act and the 1798 Alien and Sedition Acts to declare a “national emergency at our southern border.”
He also used the language of warfare to mark the day, stating “for American citizens, January 20th, 2025, is Liberation Day” and promising “as we liberate our nation, we will lead it to new heights of victory and success.”
Trump declared a national crisis, declared a national emergency, and assured the public that his election had liberated the nation and its people, which increased both his rhetorical and his actual power. The combination of these three moves shifted the rhetorical situation from a traditional celebration of American democracy and the rule of law to a war speech. In wartime presidents have much more power than during times of peace.
A mandate from God and the people
Second, Trump claimed that his victory represented a mandate to power. Trump’s speech was unusual because it did not acknowledge the constitutional limitations on the presidency. In fact, Trump dared to do what no president had done before: he claimed a mandate from God and the people to enact his agenda.
Other presidents have declared a mandate in their Inaugural Addresses, of course. In fact, Cleveland’s 1893 Second Inaugural begins by proclaiming “In obedience of the mandate of my countrymen I am about to dedicate myself to their service under the sanction of a solemn oath.” Typically, presidents like Cleveland have used the “mandate” language to help them to negotiate the difficult conundrum of exercising power as an effective leader but not appearing to exercise too much power as a tyrant. Mandate rhetoric is often part of what limits presidential power, even as it authorizes it.
Trump claimed that his “recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal” and claimed that his “victory showed the entire nation is rapidly unifying behind our agenda.” Trump used the “public mandate” to enable his power and declare unity, but not to limit his power.
Previous presidents have tended to end their speeches by asking for God to take care of the nation. So doing demonstrates that “presidents subordinate themselves to a higher power” according to Campbell and Jamieson. Trump did this at the end of his speech, but before that he invoked God as part of his mandate for power. “Just a few months ago,” Trump recalled, “in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Trump didn’t place the nation under God’s care to limit his power—as previous presidents have done—but to enlarge it. No previous president in American history has claimed that he was saved by God to enact his political agenda. Invoking the power of the unified people and God gives Trump an awesome and unquestionable power—whoever defies Trump is at risk of defying the people and God. It’s impossible to argue against Trump when he claims the power of God is behind his policies.

“President Trump’s Trip to Asia” (Public Domain) by The Trump White House Archived
Redefining reality and America
Third, he vowed to use his new power to define reality and remake the nation. He explicitly used the speech to claim unusual and awesome powers: the power to name places like mountains and bodies of water and the power to define gender. “We are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America,” Trump declared,” and we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs.” The power to name mountains and bodies of water is the power to define reality, to erase maps (and perhaps redraw national boundaries)—such power exceeds the limited Constitutional powers of a president.
Trump also demonstrated his power to define reality by declaring, “it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders, male and female.” Though science has found evidence of transgenderism in animals, Trump would use his power to overrule nature—erasing transgenderism entirely.
Speaking as a dictator
Taken together, Trump’s three moves: declaring an emergency through war rhetoric, invoking a mandate to power from the public and God, and demonstrating the awesome power to define reality and remake the nation shows us that Trump—at least rhetorically—spoke as a dictator, not as a president. Just as he had told us he would do.
Trump followed his Inaugural Address by signing 26 Executive Orders—more than any previous president signed on their first day in office. One of his Executive Orders seeks to rewrite the 14th Amendment of the Constitution—a direct violation of his oath of office to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.
“It is my hope,” said Trump, “that our recent presidential election will be remembered as the greatest and most consequential election in the history of our country.” His Inaugural Address shows how he has claimed power, whether the consequences of that power will be “great” remains to be seen.
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He spoke as a leader I think. The majority of the United States of America voted this president in unanimously and he promised us what he was going to do and he’s doing it. Thank God for president that has a spine and get us back to where we were before Biden. If you didn’t vote for him to be our president then all you can really do is hang on for 4 years like we did to get him back in office. Don’t mean it in any bad way whatsoever The country just needs to come together so we can move forward and get the cost of living back to where it was. More than 3/4 of this country cannot afford electric cars and even if we did we don’t have the grids for all electric how do you think we make our electric.?
Ed, maybe you’ve forgotten how our country stood as his previous term ended: thousands were still dying daily from a badly mismanaged public health emergency that led to millions of preventable deaths, record high (14%) unemployment, and a fraud riddled PPP ‘ forgiveable loan program. He was personally signing the economic relief checks the government needed to send to keep the country afloat, and he added $8T to the national debt in just 4 years. When gas prices fell he begged OPEC to curtail supply to boost the cost of gas. Or maybe you only get your information from captured sources that omit inconvenient truths like these.
All I can say is can you imagine the Republican House and Senate remaining silent if Biden, Obama, or Harris chose not to put their hand on a Bible when taking the Oath of Office? That’s what this re-elected Man of God (his claim, see above) did. There are photos and videos that clearly show that he did not touch the stack of Bibles that his wife held out for him. If you think the Republican Reps and Senators, and especially DT himself, would have let that slide I think you’re fooling yourself.
The fact that nearly ALL outside political experts agree that Trump is talking and ACTING as a dictator does, speaks volumes. The majority weapon he has is making his voters believe that it is in their best interests, whereas he is enriching himself and his cronies. He is a known liar, making innumerable and preposterous claims, but people still believe him. It is a shame, but the problem is that the people that made people SO miserable are still in charge. The politicians remain the same. The president just changes. But now people will suffer. There is too much money in American politics and until that changes, the US will never change. The working and middle class will remain miserable to the point of believing ANYONE who promises them better times. Every politician promises this, but dictators say that YOU want it. Then once in power, that majority of voters never goes away because of rigged elections by regimes pretending they are a democracy. Russia is a prime example. Noone EVER gets 90+% of the vote. Just doesn’t happen normally.
American politics ends not with a bang, but with rapturous applause. Many countries have been through it, and it ALWAYS ends in blood. America, you are slipping into the dark void. We look forward to welcoming you back, once you have come to your senses. For now, expect to be internationally shunned. And not just by our politicians, but the people themselves. Good luck. Europe knows all too well what fascism can do. America will learn the hard way at the expense of their population.