Proclaiming a new American “Golden Age,” Trump consolidated power hours into his new term, wielding massive executive authority in seeking to obliterate large chunks of Joe Biden’s legacy and showing he plans to learn from his first-term failures to pull off a transformational presidency.

In many respects, Donald Trump inherited the "golden age" he claims to be ushering in. All he really needs to do is not screw it up. In economic and financial terms, the United States has rarely been in better health.

He talked of a new Manifest Destiny and a “Golden Age." He invoked the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. An honor guard appeared with tricorn hats, fifes and drums — all traditional Revolutionary War iconography.