After a night of protests and a lackluster inauguration concert, Donald J. Trump is officially the 45th President of the United States. Taking the oath shortly after the clock struck noon on Jan. 20, President Trump vowed to usher in an age where “it’s going to be America first.”

The president began his speech by saying, “We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people.”

This was the overall tone of Trump’s inaugural address. Instead of inspiring hope like presidents of the past, Trump gave a very dark, dystopian tone to his speech, which was fitting for the rainy day on which the inauguration took place.

Trump’s speech, in a way, resonated his “drain the swamp” policy.

“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people,” he said. “January 20th, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.”

Trump, almost exactly quoting Bane from Christopher Nolan’s 2012 film “The Dark Knight Rises,” stated, “Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another. But we are transferring power from Washington D.C. and giving it back to you, the people.”

Speaking in a way that traditional Republicans would almost never agree with, Trump criticized “the establishment,” saying that Inauguration Day belonged to the people, and that the forgotten people of the U.S. will “be forgotten no longer.”

Instead of trying to bring a fractured nation together through ideas of peace, hope and unification, Trump talked of “mothers and children trapped in poverty,” “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones,” a broken education system and lives lost due to drug abuse and gang violence.

This is when the president proclaimed that “this American carnage” stops once and for all.

Despite his previous statements, however, Trump vowed to put America first, above everything else. 

“The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans,” he said.

Trump criticized the fact that the U.S. has constantly defended other countries’ borders, all while ignoring its own. He made accusations that the country’s infrastructure has fallen into “disrepair and decay” due to spending trillions of dollars overseas.

He also said that we will re-enforce our alliances with other nations and work toward a more peaceful world, albeit with our interests coming before those of our allies, as “it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.”

Trump then said that strengthening these alliances will “unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism.”

Shortly after ending his speech, Trump’s first act as president was the signing of a waiver allowing James “Mad Dog” Mattis to become Secretary of Defense. Later in the night, he issued his first executive order, which directed all agencies to start transitioning away from the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as “Obamacare.” 

The repealing of the Affordable Care Act was one of Trump’s many campaign promises, and his first executive order showed that he will take this promise seriously.

President Trump is expected to take further measures against the Affordable Care Act in the coming weeks. We can expect the Republican-controlled Senate to come up with a replacement, as it had previously promised.