Trump’s wild 2913-word inauguration speech, deconstructed and decoded

Donald Trump’s 30-minute inauguration speech was slightly less dark than the “American carnage” address of his first inauguration eight years ago, which depicted the US as a crime and drug-infested hellscape. But it nonetheless cast the US as a country in “decline” and featured a string of swipes at his predecessor Joe Biden.

Using Trump’s own words, former US Studies Centre senior fellow Bruce Wolpe, Herald columnist Jacqueline Maley and the US Studies Centre’s Economic Security Program director Hayley Channer break down the following abridged speech, its hidden meanings and what may lay ahead for the next four years.