Donald Trump has been welcomed into the White House alongside his wife Melania by the Bidens.

Today (January 20) marks Trump‘s inauguration ceremony, but before he’s sworn into office for a second time, he and Melania were invited to the White House by President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill.

It’s an age-old tradition that the president and first lady invite their successors for tea before the new president-elect’s inauguration.

Following their meet-up, the foursome will travel to Trump’s inauguration ceremony in the same car. It’s thought they usually travel in two separate vehicles.

With Biden being a Democrat, and Trump a Republican, it’s safe to say that the pair haven’t always seen eye-to-eye when it comes to politics, but they seemingly put any bad blood aside at today’s meet.

When the Trumps arrived at the White House, Biden said, as per PEOPLE: “Welcome home!”

Joe Biden, Donald Trump and Melania Trump seen at the White House (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

While Biden has hosted a tea ceremony for Trump and his wife, the Republican didn’t do the same for him when Biden won the 2020 election.

In fact, Trump didn’t attend his then-successor’s inauguration altogether.

Trump and his family quickly jetted back to his home in Florida instead.

Ahead of today’s swearing-in ceremony, Trump has made a series of promises about what will happen when he returns to office.

One of the most notable plans of his is to delay the TikTok ban, which briefly came into force over the weekend before the app reemerged on people’s devices.

Joe Biden’s successor Donald Trump is being sworn into office today (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

When the video sharing platform went dark for a brief period, users were met with the following message: “Sorry, TikTok isn’t available right now. A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the US. Unfortunately, that means you can’t use TikTok for now.

“We are fortunate that President Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned!”

And it wasn’t long until the app was working again, sparking people to suggest that the whole thing was simply a PR stunt.

One person said on social media: “This was such an obvious PR stunt to try to garner favor with Trump. They never had to take TikTok offline, and if they were legally required to, then nothing Trump said to them could have allowed them to restore service.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre echoed similar sentiments in the run up to TikTok’s deadline yesterday (January 19).

As Donald Trump prepares to be inaugurated to the White House a second time, we take a look at all changes he’s vowed to usher in.

The Republican Party leader is set to officially become the 47th US President, as he’s sworn into office in Washington DC later from 11.30am Eastern Time today (20 January).

From cryptocurrency to education and everything in between, here’s everything Donald Trump has promised to do as he returns to office…

Be a ‘dictator’

Donald Trump is the 47th President of the United States (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Trump admitted that one of his plans for his first day back in the Oval Office would be to be a ‘dictator’ when discussing the possibility of his win in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity last year.

He referred to himself as a ‘dictator’ during the interview, when asked by Hannity if he was promising to ‘never abuse power as retribution against anybody’.

In response, Trump said: “Except for Day 1.

“I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling,” he continued.

“After that, I’m not a dictator.”

Delay the TikTok ban

The TikTok ban has been delayed (TikTok/ Twitter/ @amyewong)

TikTok went dark yesterday (January 19), but it was bought back after mere hours with a message reading: “Welcome back! Thank you for your patience and support. As a result of President Trump’s efforts, TikTok is back in the US!

“You can continue to create, share and discover all the things you love on TikTok.”

Trump will reportedly sign an executive order to delay the ban saying he wants to ‘make a deal to protect our national security.’

Scrap ‘electric vehicle mandates’

Trump has vowed to scrap EV mandates (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

Trump plans to scrap Biden administration’s so-called electric vehicle mandate, referring to new pollution standards that incentivize auto manufacturers to increase production of electric and lower-emission vehicles.

Despite vowing to get rid of the policy on his first day, Trump told podcaster Joe Rogan the move could take ‘maybe two days, because it’s a little bit busy’.

Make US ‘crypto capital’

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

·Follow

My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to gettrumpmemes.com — Have Fun!

9:44 PM · Jan 17, 2025

387.0K

Reply

Copy link

Read 57.9K replies

Back in 2021, Trump called crypto a ‘scam against the dollar.’ But four years on, he’s pulled a u-turn as he vowed to make the US the ‘crypto capital of the planet’.

On social media, Trump claimed crypto would be ‘mined, minted and made in the US’.

Both he and wife Melania released their own memecoins ahead of the inauguration, while experts previously predicted Bitcoin could reach up to $250,000 this year.

Trump also said he would ‘fire’ Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler ‘on day one’ – referencing the Joe Biden-appointed SEC chairman who has taken an aggressive approach to crypto regulation.

Free some of the January 6 rioters

Trump supporters clashed with police and security forces as they stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021 (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

It was Trump’s loss in the 2020 election that led to the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, resulting in the arrests of a number of Trump supporters.

However, the president-elect told reporters on voting day this year that his supporters are ‘not violent people’, and that there would be ‘no violence’ surrounding the most recent election.

This belief echoes Trump’s previous claim that some of the people sentenced for their role in the insurrection were ‘wrongfully imprisoned’, and explains why he has shared plans to free them of their sentences as one of his first acts when he returns as president.

In a post shared on his social media channel, Trump said: “I am inclined to pardon many of them. I can’t say for every single one, because a couple of them, probably they got out of control.”

End Green Deals

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

@RepAOC

·Follow

Five years after introducing the Green New Deal, we’ve helped secure the largest US investment to combat the climate crisis, launched the American Climate Corps, and more. And we’re just getting started.

Watch on X

4:11 PM · Feb 12, 2024

1.6K

Reply

Copy link

Read 720 replies

Trump has spoken previously about his plan to ‘terminate the Green New Deal’, which he dubbed the ‘Green New Scam’.

The Green New Deal was pitched by Democrats Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey, but it was never signed into law. However, Trump has used the term to refer more generally to Joe Biden’s climate and energy policies.

Addressing the policies in a speech in September, Trump said: “To further defeat inflation, my plan will terminate the Green New Deal, which I call the Green New Scam. Greatest scam in history, probably.

“We [will] rescind all unspent funds under the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act.

“I’m going to write it out in an executive order. It’s going to end on Day 1.”

Fire the man who indicted him

Trump faced two federal cases due to the insurrection (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

Trump faced two federal cases in relation to the 2020 election result from special counsel Jack Smith, and the future POTUS has no plans to work with him again.

Speaking on October 24, Trump told the Hugh Hewitt show he would fire Smith ‘within two seconds’.

“He’ll be one of the first things addressed,” he said.

Plan over 100 executive orders

Donald J. Trump

@realDonaldTrump

·Follow

TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING!

12:22 AM · Jan 3, 2025

539.1K

Reply

Copy link

Read 35.2K replies

It’s been reported by AP that Trump plans on preparing over 100 executive orders on his first day in the White House.

Trump’s allies have reportedly spent time preparing documents that Trump can sign quickly, on issues such as deportation, school gender policies, and vaccine mandates, without input from congress.

“There will be a substantial number,” said Senator John Hoeven, R-N.D.

Make hidden government files public

Trump has promised to increase government transparency, including information about MLK’s assassination (Alpha Historica / Alamy Stock Photo)

Including the assassinations of JFK and Martin Luther King Jr., Trump promised at his recent rally in Washington D.C that, in a bid to increase government transparency, he will be making these disclosures in ‘the coming days’.

“And in the coming days, we are going to make public remaining records relating to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert Kennedy, as well as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” he said.

Mass deportations

Trump, his wife Melania and their son Barron (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Making it clear this will be a priority from day one, Trump wants to start his second presidential reign by using the military to deport masses of undocumented immigrants.

In November 2024, Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton put these claims to social media, to which Trump simply replied: “TRUE!”

In a lengthier statement during a rally at Madison Square Garden, he said: “On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out.

“I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”

It’s thought the move will impact an estimated 11 million people.

Getting rid of birthright citizenship

Exactly as it sounds, Trump once declared he wanted to get rid of birthright citizenship, which immediately gives citizenship to anyone born in the US.

Noting that this may not be possible as it’s written into the constitution, he said he wants to achieve this by executive order – bypassing congress again – ‘if we can’.

Arrange green cards for college graduates

Despite making his stance on immigration clear, Trump has advocated for non-US citizens to receive green cards to stay in the country if they graduate from college.

During an episode of the ‘All In’ podcast recorded this year, Trump said: “Anybody graduates from a college, you go in there for two years or four years, if you graduate, or you get a doctorate degree from a college, you should be able to stay in this country […]

“Somebody graduates at the top of the class, they can’t even make a deal with the company because they don’t think they’re going to be able to stay in the country. That is going to end on Day 1.”

The ‘Make Greenland Great Again Act’

Trump has his sights set on Greenland (Juan Maria Coy Vergara/Getty Images)

In a bid that has not gone down well with Greenlanders – shocking – Trump has said he wants to buy Greenland, with Republican lawmakers having drawn up a bill which will allow Trump to start negotiations when he enters the White House January 20.

Taking to his social media platform Truth Social, he said: “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity.

“Greenland is an incredible place. The people will benefit tremendously if, and when, it becomes part of our Nation. We will protect it, cherish it, from a very vicious outside World.

“MAKE GREENLAND GREAT AGAIN!”

Cut federal funding for schools educating on ‘inappropriate’ topics

Speaking early last year, Trump addressed a crowd in Iowa and made plans to ‘save [the] country from destruction’.

As part of this, the president-elect shared his plans to crack down on schools which include certain lessons about race, gender or politics.

“On day one, I will sign a new executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity,” he said, per NPR.

Trump also said he would target schools pushing ‘any other inappropriate racial, sexual or political content on our children’.

TikTok’s fate remains just a little bit more uncertain as President Biden makes his stance on the popular Chinese app clear.

People on social media have been up in arms about the incoming ban of TikTok in the coming days.

In case you missed the details of the long-drawn-out debate surrounding the Chinese video-sharing app, the Supreme Court recently ruled that TikTok will no longer be available for download in the States from Sunday 19 January.

Last year in April 2024, Biden signed a bill that gave ByteDance, the Chinese firm that owns TikTok, a chance to sell the app or have it banned in the US.

There’s since been offers to buy TikTok but the Chinese-owned company is yet to budge.

Joe Biden has said he will not enforce the TikTok ban (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

The deadline for ByteDance to sell is January 19, a day before Biden leaves the Oval Office.

However, a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that Biden’s administration was ultimately going to leave the decision up to Donald Trump, who is set to enter the White House on January 20.

Trump has expressed a desire to keep the social media app available in the US, however, he and his team have not outlined how they will accomplish that.

Interestingly enough, in his first term of President, 2017 to 2021, he sought the ban out. But during his 2024 presidential campaign, he ended up joining the platform and said he would ‘save it’ and credited it with bringing him more youth votes.

Earlier this week, incoming White House national security adviser Mike Waltz told Fox News: “We will put measures in place to keep TikTok from going dark.”

He went on to add that new law allows for an extension preventing it from taking effect ‘as long as a viable deal is on the table.’

Donald Trump has previously praised TikTok for bringing him youth votes(Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

With that being said, some experts have already explained what will happen on January 19 for users of the app.

After the 19th, if you do not already have the app downloaded on your phone, you’ll be unlikely to download it as it will be removed from app stores under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act.

For those who have the app prior to the ban, it’s expected that it will eventually ‘go dark’.

Timothy Edgar, a professor of cybersecurity at Brown University, told CBS: “They will get a notice that says, ‘This service is not available in your country.’

“That’s most likely what will happen based on what we’ve seen in other countries that have banned certain platforms.”

Donald Trump has been called as winning Georgia by multiple US news outlets.

Despite remaining red and choosing Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016, Georgia went blue for the first time in a decade in 2020, when Trump took on Joe Biden and ultimately lost.

Earlier today (November 5), polls in Georgia closed at 7:00pm local time and a winner has since been called.

In 2020, around five million votes were cast in Georgia and the state saw Biden win by around 13,000 votes.

This marked the first time a Democratic candidate had won the state since Bill Clinton in 1992.

A recent poll conducted by Emerson College and The Hill between October 30 – November 2 ahead of the 2024 elections showed 800 likely voters showed Trump with 50 percent and Harris with 49 percent.

Trump challenged the results, however, even with every vote being recounted by hand, Biden was still confirmed as coming out victorious and Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results led to him face multiple criminal counts – to which Trump has pleaded not guilty.

The State of Georgia v. Donald J Trump et al is a pending criminal case against the 45th president of the US and 18 others, alleging he led a ‘criminal racketeering enterprise’ and ‘knowingly and willingly joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome’ of the election results in Georgia in 2020.

However, a judge decided to drop two charges against Trump, Trump’s lawyer Steve Sadow stating at the time, as per The Guardian: “President Trump and his legal team in Georgia have prevailed once again. The trial court has decided that counts 15 and 27 in the indictment must be quashed/dismissed.”

CNN projected Trump to win Georgia alongside NBC News and the Associated Press has also now called the win.

But what about the other swing states?

Trump faces eight criminal counts in Georgia (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

What are the swing states for the 2024 US election?

These are the states that have seen very similar levels of support for Republican nominee former POTUS Donald Trump and the Democratic Vice-President Kamala Harris ahead of the US election.

Arizona

In 2016, Trump won Arizona when he became president, but in 2020 he lost it narrowly to President Joe Biden by around 10,000 votes.

A recent poll conducted by Emerson College and The Hill between October 30 – November 2 of 900 likely voters predicted Trump coming away with 50 percent of votes and Harris with 48 percent.

Michigan

After almost three decades of being a Democratic state, Trump won Michigan in 2016, but the state flipped in President Biden’s favor in 2020.

The recent poll in Michigan by Emerson College stood at 50 percent for Harris and 48 percent for Trump out of 790 likely voters.

Nevada

Nevada has been a blue state for the last four presidential elections, but this time around, the possibility increased significantly of it flipping and becoming a red state.

The recent poll conducted with 790 likely voters and saw a tie with both Trump and Harris showing 48 percent.

UNILAD/Getty

North Carolina

A typically Republican state, North Carolina is still recovering from the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The poll of 860 likely voters came out at 49 percent for Trump and 48 percent for Harris.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania saw Biden win by 82,000 votes in 2020, but Emerson College’s poll of 1,000 likely voters leant ever so slightly in Trump’s favour – Trump predicted as obtaining 49 percent of votes and Harris 48.

Wisconsin

A classically Democratic state, Wisconsin was flipped by Trump in 2016, however, it was flipped back in 2020 by President Biden. The recent poll of 800 likely voters saw a tie between Trump and Harris with both showing 48 percent.