The declaration would also free up resources to build a wall
at the US-Mexico border, an effort he was forced to abandon at the end of his
last administration.
Trump later said he would reinstate service members who
were fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and give them full back pay.
The GOP has long vowed to reinstate troops fired
for refusing the vaccine. They slipped in the 2024 defense authorization bill a
requirement for the Pentagon to consider reinstatement for that reason.
Trump also said he would stop “radical political
theories” and “social experiments” for members of the armed forces. “It’s going
to end immediately,” he said.
Trump vowed to “build the strongest military the world has
ever seen.”
In addition, he said the US will once again become a
“growing nation,” vowing to take back the Panama Canal during his
inauguration speech.
The newly sworn-in president added that he wants his legacy
to be that of a “peacemaker and unifier” as he touted the release of
Israeli hostages a day before his inauguration.
One
notable omission from his inaugural speech was the Russia-Ukraine war,
soon to enter its third year. Trump has promised to end the conflict war even
before he was sworn in.
The immediate visible effects of the new Trump
administration could be found at the Pentagon, where a portrait of retired Gen.
Mark Milley, the former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has feuded
in highly public spats with Trump, was taken down on Monday. No reason was
given for the change.
Trump has clashed with Milley over several
national security issues during his first time in the White House, with Trump
once suggesting that the four-star general deserved to be executed. Milley, who
retired in 2023, has called Trump a fascist.
In his last few hours in the Oval Office on Monday, Joe Biden issued pre-emptive
pardons to Milley and several other people, which he said were not an
admittance of guilt but were issued for their service.
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