An atypical inaugural --- thank goodness!

"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," Trump said while President Biden and Vice President Harris were sitting close by.

"It fails to protect our magnificent law-abiding American citizens but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world." Trump probably didn't know it, but fifteen minutes before leaving office, Biden pardoned his entire family – part of an unprecedented series of pardons by an outgoing president.

"My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics," Biden said in his last official statement in office. "Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end."

It was one of a series of awkward moments on Inauguration Day – one of which was saved by singer Carrie Underwood. She was supposed to have a musical accompaniment on singing "America the Beautiful" but there was a glitch, so Underwood grabbed the mic and did a flawless version a capella.

Trump was rushed by Justice John Roberts during the oath of office, so much so that the new president didn't have a chance to put his left hand on the Bible as originally planned.

Hillary Clinton was caught laughing when Trump announced he was changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

This was not a typical inaugural speech with a feigned show of "unity" or optimistic promises like "1,000 points of light" that other presidents have given. But Trump is not your usual president.

The swearing-in of Trump and Vice President JD Vance was held in the Capitol rotunda because of the icy cold weather so the crowd was limited to just about 600 people, mostly members of Congress.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg were in the Rotunda along with other business tycoons from the tech sector.

There were notable no-shows at the Inaugural from former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former first lady Michelle Obama, who boycotted the ceremonies.

But it didn't stop Trump from giving a speech that was a mixture of hopeful promises and not-so-hopeful reminders of what has happened in the country for the last four years.

"The golden age of America begins right now," Trump said in his speech.

"A tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world, and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before, but first we have to be honest about the challenges we face."

Among those challenges is changing an education system that Trump said "teaches children to hate our country."

Trump said he plans on signing a series of executive orders on day one "to restore common sense" and that includes cutting down on border crossings and giving him power to send the military to the southern border, and ending the "Green New Deal" and revoking the electric vehicle mandate.

He also declared a national energy emergency and promised to "drill baby, drill" for oil in this country again, and declared there are "only two genders – male and female."

"We are going to bring law and order back to our cities," he said in a reference to crime-ridden urban areas that have declined under Biden.

He also promised to end diversity and inclusion programs in the American government.

There were a lot of promises and an ambitious agenda in Trump's speech, one that his critics will be keeping score of in the weeks and months to come.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Joe Battenfeld
Boston Herald/(TNS)

Joe Battenfeld is a veteran Boston Herald political columnist and multimedia reporter.