1 of 5 | President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration at Capital One Arena, in Washington, D.C., on Sunday. Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 19 (UPI) — President-elect Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters in Washington, D.C., Sunday afternoon that “four long years of American decline” will end,” and that nation will “begin a brand new day of American strength and prosperity and pride.”
Trump, speaking at a rally on the eve of his inauguration, said that he would sign a flurry of measures, including repealing President Joe Biden’s executive orders “within hours,” beginning a long-promised mass deportation effort, banning transgender athletes from competing in male sports, bolstering investment in military spending and touring the areas devastated by wildfires in California, all within his first week in office.
During a wide-ranging and often acerbic address at the Capital One Arena, Trump said he will end Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs “all across the government” and said the country will return to “the merit system.”
He said he will launch a “mass deportation” effort that was a centerpiece of his campaign. It seeks to expel what Trump has repeatedly called “dangerous criminals.”
“We will not be invaded. We will not be occupied, we will not be overrun,” Trump said of his plans for the deportation plan, which he said will begin Monday “at noon.”
The incoming president claimed that more than half of the people who have crossed the U.S. border illegally have killed at least one person, but offered no proof to back up that statement. He instead rode a wave of enthusiasm from the cheering crowd assembled at the rally, many wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and holding red and white signs emblazoned with “47.”
U.S. Homeland Security officials have said most migrants crossing the border are families trying to escape poverty, and illegal crossings have dropped to the lowest level in years, a non-partisan analysis of federal data shows.
Trump also promised to make public documents associated with the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., reversing what he called the over-classification of government documents
“It’s all going to be released,” Trump declared.
He also said he will direct the U.S. military to continue work on an iron dome missile defense system, and change the philosophy of the personnel admitted into the U.S. armed forces.
“We will get wokeness the hell out of our military effective immediately and make it like it used to be,” Trump told the crowd.
The incoming president also called onto the stage SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was accompanied by his son. Musk jumped and waved his arms as he had done at a previous rally and his son waved to the crowd.
“Looking forward to making a lot of changes,” Musk said.