Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. At around noon Eastern,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump was sworn in as the forty seventh US president,
Speaker 1: shortly after he made his second inaugural address. He stood
Speaker 1: not on the National Mall as he did in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: but in the capital Rotunda. The inauguration proceedings had been
Speaker 1: forced indoors due to extreme cold weather in Washington. Surrounded
Speaker 1: by Republicans and Democrats, including some of his most outspoken critics,
Speaker 1: Trump took the stage, thank you very very much, and
Speaker 1: while he painted a picture of America in chaos and decline,
Speaker 1: we now.
Speaker 2: Have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis
Speaker 2: at home, while at the same time stumbling into a
Speaker 2: continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad.
Speaker 1: He claimed to be a unifier and a peacemaker.
Speaker 2: The entire nation is rapidly unified behind our agenda, with
Speaker 2: dramatic increases in support from virtually every element of our society.
Speaker 1: And promised that a new age for the country was
Speaker 1: starting under his administration.
Speaker 2: The Golden Age of America begins right now. From this
Speaker 2: day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again
Speaker 2: all over the world.
Speaker 1: He also outlined the policies he planned to prioritize immediately,
Speaker 1: from executive orders on immigration and energy to trade negotiations
Speaker 1: and taxes. To Peggy Collins, Bloomberg's Washington, DC Bureau chief,
Speaker 1: the language in Trump's remarks about unity and division, peace
Speaker 1: and disorder, paired with these priorities, set up the key
Speaker 1: questions that will define his presidency.
Speaker 3: How do the policies are the economy, immigration, energy, reshaping
Speaker 3: of the federal government. Do they end up being ones
Speaker 3: that do make America more unified, more confident, more proud,
Speaker 3: or do they further some of the fractions and partisan
Speaker 3: nature that we've seen built over the past few decades
Speaker 3: here in the US.
Speaker 1: Today, on the show, its inauguration Day. What Trump's speeches
Speaker 1: at the Capitol can tell us about what to expect
Speaker 1: from him and his administration in the coming hours and
Speaker 1: days and across the next four years. This is the
Speaker 1: big take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder, Peggy. We're
Speaker 1: talking at around two thirty pm on Monday. We just
Speaker 1: watched Donald Trump get sworn in as the forty seventh
Speaker 1: president of the United States. When Trump gave his inauguration
Speaker 1: speech today, what stood out from your seat in Washington.
Speaker 3: I think a couple of things stood out. I think
Speaker 3: the fact that Trump really was leaning into the fact
Speaker 3: that he had a mandate and felt like that mandate
Speaker 3: was a signal that he could turn the country into
Speaker 3: a more unified nation. And that also he really felt
Speaker 3: that that mandate that he got winning all seven swing
Speaker 3: states the popular vote, a range of voters who he
Speaker 3: thanked in terms of black voters, Hispanic voters.
Speaker 2: Black and Hispanic communities. I want to thank.
Speaker 1: You auto workers, and thank you.
Speaker 2: To the auto workers of our nation for your ins.
Speaker 3: That is something that he really called out to as
Speaker 3: a way of saying that he had the mandate to
Speaker 3: move forward on a couple of main fronts. And we
Speaker 3: saw him really call out immigration and the border as
Speaker 3: an issue that he felt unified voters toward him, and
Speaker 3: that was one of the things that he said he
Speaker 3: was going to act on first and foremost as he
Speaker 3: takes the first day or two of his second term
Speaker 3: as president of the US. I think another thing that
Speaker 3: really stood out to me was this idea of national
Speaker 3: security and national emergencies as a couple of the governing
Speaker 3: principles of how they are actually going to put their
Speaker 3: policies in place and get things done. Another example of that,
Speaker 3: in addition to immigration and border security, is what they
Speaker 3: announced in terms of energy and calling it really a
Speaker 3: national emergency action to drill more because that will give
Speaker 3: us more strength abroad. As Trump is saying from his
Speaker 3: point of view.
Speaker 2: Today, I will also declare a national energy emergency. We
Speaker 2: will drill, baby, drill.
Speaker 1: What kind of tone did Trump take on that stage today?
Speaker 3: Well, in terms of his inaugural address on Capitol Hill,
Speaker 3: because it was inside due to the frigid cold here
Speaker 3: in DC, so his first address to the nation really
Speaker 3: this morning had a bit more of a solemn tone.
Speaker 3: The speech really he reminded me of when we were
Speaker 3: covering the primaries in Iowa New Hampshire in early twenty
Speaker 3: twenty four, when we talked to voters who went to
Speaker 3: his rallies, who said they really felt like he was
Speaker 3: going to fight for them. We did then see Trump
Speaker 3: come back again a little bit later and speak to
Speaker 3: more supporters in the Capitol building.
Speaker 2: I just want to say, you're a younger, far more
Speaker 2: beautiful audience that I just spoke to.
Speaker 3: And at that point he did go back to some
Speaker 3: of the themes that we've heard him address in some
Speaker 3: of his rallies that lead into more in terms of
Speaker 3: January sixth, and feeling like he's coming back to the
Speaker 3: stage and has some things that he didn't get done
Speaker 3: in the first term that he wants to do again.
Speaker 2: Now, I was.
Speaker 4: Going to talk about the Jay six hostages, but you'll
Speaker 4: be happy because you know it's action nut words account
Speaker 4: and you're going to see a lot of action on
Speaker 4: the JA six houstage to a lot of arment.
Speaker 1: What kind of policies did he promise to enact? First
Speaker 1: thing in his remarks today.
Speaker 3: The buckets that he talked about out of the gate
Speaker 3: today and his officials have as well, were some of
Speaker 3: the ones we expected. They're around immigration.
Speaker 2: First, I will declare a national emergency at our southern border.
Speaker 3: The economy, which would include tariff policies.
Speaker 2: We will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens, as.
Speaker 3: Well as energy and policies around federal workers. That includes
Speaker 3: DEI policies as well as we're expecting some potential actions
Speaker 3: around bringing the federal workforce back to work and leaning
Speaker 3: into doze.
Speaker 2: My administration will establish the brand new Department of Government efficiency.
Speaker 3: It's not a department formally, but an effort led by
Speaker 3: Musk to bring more efficiency to the federal government. Still
Speaker 3: to be determined how they roll out those actions and
Speaker 3: where first in terms of different departments across the federal government,
Speaker 3: but that is something we're really on watch for because
Speaker 3: it really ties into federal spending and fiscal policy. This
Speaker 3: effort around efficiency and where they might take that. It
Speaker 3: dovetails really with another key pillar that Bloomberg will be
Speaker 3: covering closely, which is fiscal spending and tax policy. We're
Speaker 3: expecting tax policy to be a huge focus in the
Speaker 3: first half of the year for Republicans and Democrats really
Speaker 3: on the hill with the twenty seventeen tax reform bill
Speaker 3: coming up for renewal.
Speaker 1: As you surveyed the crowd in the Capital, give us
Speaker 1: a sense of who was in this cast of characters
Speaker 1: from Trump's incoming administration and from Trump World broadly, and
Speaker 1: what they tell us about how this administration will govern.
Speaker 3: What we did see, which is different than potentially in
Speaker 3: years past, was a real presence of CEOs in some
Speaker 3: of the front rows in the Capitol building. As Trump
Speaker 3: was doing his inaugural address and being sworn in So
Speaker 3: that includes people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and others,
Speaker 3: and certainly also there today were a number of Trump's
Speaker 3: nominees for key cabinet up positions and top positions across
Speaker 3: his government, and we will be reporting on in the
Speaker 3: days ahead the continued confirmation hearings and votes to confirm
Speaker 3: that cabinet going forward.
Speaker 1: Well, let's zero in on big tech for a moment.
Speaker 1: Who are some of those key CEOs and tech leaders
Speaker 1: that were in the audience and that are expected to
Speaker 1: play a key role in this administration.
Speaker 3: So some of the names we saw today echo some
Speaker 3: of the reporting we've done over the last several months
Speaker 3: in terms of who traveled quickly to mar A Lago
Speaker 3: to see Trump after he wanted the election. So that
Speaker 3: includes Tim Cook from Apple, Mark Zuckerberg from Facebook, Jeff
Speaker 3: Bezos from Amazon. Tech has played a big presence in
Speaker 3: the lead up to Trump's inauguration in terms of making
Speaker 3: visits to see him. Because the policies around tech regulation
Speaker 3: and crypto regulation, which is another big area we expect
Speaker 3: to be in focus quickly in Trump's second term. It
Speaker 3: really matters for a lot of these companies in terms
Speaker 3: of their bottom line. Policies like tariffs, like immigration, like
Speaker 3: being able to hire workers from around the world, all
Speaker 3: our front and center for their success in their business
Speaker 3: going forward as global multinational big tech companies.
Speaker 1: Looking at some of the other attendees and participants at
Speaker 1: inauguration today, Trump didn't attend Joe Biden's inauguration. Were you
Speaker 1: surprised to see the Bidens were in attendance today?
Speaker 3: The Biden administration and the Bidens themselves have been very
Speaker 3: clear for a couple of months now that they intended
Speaker 3: to follow through with the traditional pass off and passing
Speaker 3: of the torch from one administration to another by attending
Speaker 3: today's inauguration, by hosting the Trumps at the White House
Speaker 3: ahead of time, having some calls and conversations. So they
Speaker 3: have been clear about that since the election was called,
Speaker 3: in terms of posturing ahead for America in a way
Speaker 3: that returned to some of those traditions of the peaceful
Speaker 3: transfer of power.
Speaker 1: After the peaceful transfer of power comes Trump's first one
Speaker 1: hundred days in office. What we know about Trump's immediate
Speaker 1: priorities and how they could play out after the break.
Speaker 1: When we spoke at around two thirty pm on Monday,
Speaker 1: I asked Peggy Collins, Bloomberg's Washington bureau chief, about the
Speaker 1: directives Trump previewed in his inauguration speech and what they
Speaker 1: say about his top priorities.
Speaker 3: A couple of his top priorities are clearly going to
Speaker 3: be around securing the border. That is something that they
Speaker 3: came out with right away in terms of his speeches,
Speaker 3: and we're anticipating that executive orders and actions today and
Speaker 3: in the days ahead will very much so focus on that,
Speaker 3: ending catch and release, sending troops to the southern border,
Speaker 3: for example, changing some of the rules around refugee status
Speaker 3: and asylum seekers. So we expect that to happen over
Speaker 3: the next several hours and into tomorrow. Another key one
Speaker 3: is making America energy dominant, as they phrased it today again,
Speaker 3: so that is a number of the actions will be
Speaker 3: around making it easier to drill for oil, ending some
Speaker 3: of the Green New Deal policies that were enacted during
Speaker 3: the Biden administration, retracting some of the electric vehicle mandates
Speaker 3: that a number of Republicans felt went too far, and
Speaker 3: really trying to lean into supporting order workers through those
Speaker 3: policies as well. And then certainly efforts around the economy
Speaker 3: to lower prices, though that is going to be more
Speaker 3: difficult to do through executive orders and actions. But also
Speaker 3: the tariff policies that we've been talking about some in
Speaker 3: terms of making America more competitive, as Trump said, in
Speaker 3: the global sphere by countering some of the policies in
Speaker 3: places like Europe, Mexico, Canada, China, and that is going
Speaker 3: to be a big focus. And then the federal workforce
Speaker 3: and DEI policies. We expect them to roll back some
Speaker 3: of the DEI policies that are in and have been
Speaker 3: enacted at federal departments and also really push for federal
Speaker 3: workers to come back to the office and for more
Speaker 3: efficiency in the federal workforce in terms of sheer numbers potentially.
Speaker 1: Trump mentioned tariffs, but we still don't have details or
Speaker 1: specifics on what those will look like when they'll be
Speaker 1: rolled out. What are global trade partners bracing for, and
Speaker 1: what did he say today that might give them a hint.
Speaker 3: Well, I think market certainly took some of the news
Speaker 3: today that there weren't going to be tariffs announced on
Speaker 3: specific country trees as soon as today as a good thing. Certainly,
Speaker 3: the dollar reacted to that earlier. Today When it comes
Speaker 3: to other countries, though, I think a couple of things
Speaker 3: are important to note. One is somewhat of a shift
Speaker 3: towards China in terms of bringing them back to the
Speaker 3: table sooner, and maybe that will mean some restraint in
Speaker 3: terms of specific or immediate China tariffs to follow on
Speaker 3: from the first administration. Our reporting here in DC over
Speaker 3: the past few weeks has also indicated that Trump advisors
Speaker 3: are discussing some type of gradual tariff policy that might
Speaker 3: enact smaller tariffs that would level up if the negotiating
Speaker 3: between countries didn't go well. Another thing I think to
Speaker 3: note from our reporting is that the European Union is
Speaker 3: going to be in sharp focus this time around for
Speaker 3: the Trump administration. And of course Trump has already mentioned
Speaker 3: Mexico and Canada, both of which are very much so
Speaker 3: tied to his energy policies as well as his immigration policy.
Speaker 3: See Our reporting shows that the Trump administration does see
Speaker 3: tariffs with countries like Mexico as a potential way to
Speaker 3: bring Mexico and Latin America to the negotiating table to
Speaker 3: help stem the flow of migrants across the border. Trump
Speaker 3: said it, and his administration has said they want to
Speaker 3: bring back remain in Mexico, which they felt really did
Speaker 3: stem the flow of migrants across the border. In Trump
Speaker 3: one point zero.
Speaker 1: Heggett, you mentioned Trump kept talking about the fact that
Speaker 1: he's entering office with this mandate. What exactly does that mean.
Speaker 3: What we saw today from President Trump is he does
Speaker 3: feel like he has a mandate to govern and potentially
Speaker 3: govern in a way that may move faster and employ
Speaker 3: different things than presidents have in the past. We are
Speaker 3: expecting a deluge of executive orders and actions today, as
Speaker 3: many as one hundred, or some people think we could
Speaker 3: get as many as two hundred today. That's just an
Speaker 3: example of how his administration feels they have the mandate
Speaker 3: from the American people to move on a variety of
Speaker 3: issues in ways that we might not have seen presidents
Speaker 3: do in the past. Whereas they might have taken one
Speaker 3: hundred days to get a number of their key initiatives
Speaker 3: in as they took hold of the presidency, we're seeing
Speaker 3: President Trump move as quickly as in one day, one
Speaker 3: hundred executive orders.
Speaker 1: Trump denied the results of the twenty twenty election baselessly.
Speaker 1: He's overstated how sweeping his twenty twenty four victory was
Speaker 1: how popular do you think his actual policies will be
Speaker 1: this time around.
Speaker 3: I think two things will come to the forefront pretty quickly.
Speaker 3: One is that you know, success on the border to
Speaker 3: potentially stem the flow of migrants may be something that
Speaker 3: people do really relate to quickly and give the president
Speaker 3: credit for if that happens, not only in southern border states,
Speaker 3: but as we saw a number of blue cities like Chicago,
Speaker 3: New York and others really felt the impact of migrants
Speaker 3: coming across the border in large numbers. The second is
Speaker 3: more complicated. A lot of what we talked about in
Speaker 3: our reporting on the campaign trail was the issue of inflation,
Speaker 3: the economy and prices. It was the first selection since
Speaker 3: COVID really and people across the country have been hurting
Speaker 3: really from the rise in prices coming out of COVID
Speaker 3: on a variety of different levels and on daily goods
Speaker 3: like we talked a lot about eggs, but we also
Speaker 3: talked a lot about utility bills and other prices. That
Speaker 3: is going to be harder for the Trump administration to
Speaker 3: get its hands around quickly because there are so many
Speaker 3: different factors that impact that they're certainly the FED, but
Speaker 3: in recent weeks we've even seen numbers come out in
Speaker 3: terms of great jobs numbers, surprisingly good jobs numbers, and
Speaker 3: also mortgage rates go higher rather than lower. So there
Speaker 3: are a lot of factors in the economy that the
Speaker 3: President may not be able to get his hands around
Speaker 3: right away and make a change in terms of lowering prices. Also,
Speaker 3: a number of economists say that tariffs could increase inflation
Speaker 3: rather than decrease it, and that widespread deportation of immigrants
Speaker 3: could also increase inflation rather than decrease it, because we
Speaker 3: might not have as many workers to do the jobs
Speaker 3: that we need in this country.
Speaker 1: In the hours after Peggy and I spoke, Trump signed
Speaker 1: a number of executive orders.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to go right over to here and
Speaker 2: I'm going to sign in front of you. Is that okay?
Speaker 1: Good? These included pardoning the January sixth defendants, instituting a
Speaker 1: hiring freeze for most federal agencies, and taking the first
Speaker 1: step in pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Speaker 1: He also signed an action aimed at ending birthrights citizenship
Speaker 1: in some cases, and continued to falsely claim the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty election was ripped, so.
Speaker 2: Now the work begins. We won. We won, but now
Speaker 2: the work begins. We have to bring them home.
Speaker 1: This is the Big Take from Bloomberg News. I'm Sarah Holder.
Speaker 1: This episode was produced by Alex Tie. It was edited
Speaker 1: by Greg White and Naomi Shaven, who was also our
Speaker 1: senior producer, who was fact checked by Adrianna Tapia. It
Speaker 1: was mixed and sound designed by Alex Sugiura. Our senior
Speaker 1: editor is Elizabeth Ponso. Our executive producer is Nicole Beemster.
Speaker 1: Bor Sage Bauman is Bloomberg's head of podcasts. If you
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Speaker 1: Big Take wherever you listen to podcasts. It helps people
Speaker 1: find the show. Thanks for listening. We'll be back tomorrow.