US President Donald Trump made a 30 minute inaugural speech, covering a wide range of issues – so what are the key points and the reactions?

Hundreds of guests gathered in the Capitol building's Rotunda to witness the inauguration of President Trump and hear his inaugural presidential address.

Standing ovation followed standing ovation as Trump spoke about the “golden age” of America that is allegedly to come.

Journalist and tech entrepreneur Mark Little told The Hard Shoulder that the Trump inauguration was a very unusual event.

“I think people should be reminded this is not the way it normally happens,” he said.

“Having this inside the Capitol’s Rotunda, turning it into essentially a State of the Union address with partisans in front of him and the tech bros behind him - this does not happen.”

"A reset for the world"

Mr Little said that for a guy who doesn’t like speaking about specifics, Trump spoke about a lot of specifics.

“He came in with a really disciplined idea, which he really didn't veer from very much, which was the golden age, the future,” he said.

“Republicans will be very happy with that but Democrats, I think, will be secretly quite pleased, because there's not a hope in hell on the domestic agenda, with the very narrow margin he has in Congress and the very narrow mandate he has that he gets things like energy costs down by half, so he's running into a very big difficulty in a couple of year’s time.

“But most of all, this speech was [like something out of] the 1860s - the words “Manifest Destiny”, to remind people - he used this, which was essentially American's original Imperial creed that took them to settle the west of America and the Wild West.

“He has returned the world to that era, talking about taking back the Panama Canal, talking about the Gulf of Mexico becoming the Gulf of America.

“It would be farcical if it weren't so serious.”

Mr Little said Trump’s speech was a “remarkable speech” for the world to talk about.

“This is a reset for the world, the likes of which I don't think we've seen in living memory,” he said.

President Donald Trump during the 60th Presidential Inauguration. Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times via AP, Pool)

Newstalk’s political correspondent Seán Defoe said the reaction of people in the USA’s capital was positive.

“Everyone was on their phones watching it because all the people who were meant to watch it down on the National Mall of course couldn't and everywhere was just full,” he said.

“Some people were actually out of the street just watching it on their phones.

“It was interesting because the cheers that were happening inside the Capitol building, inside that round room, they were happening as well here, not quite in full throated ways but people were punching their fists, people were saying, ‘Yeah, I agree with him’ when it comes to the likes of the green stuff.

“Far from being gold in them there hills, it's now gold under our feet.

"He'll be unrestrained"

Students sitting in a restaurant with Seán said they were “looking forward” to the next four years.

“I would just say I thought it was interesting how he wasn't afraid to kind of directly mention the things that he knows are polarising,” one man said.

“He knows the Panama Canal thing is polarising, you know, he knows that saying that we want to expand our territory is going to be polarising.

"I think it shows in a second term, he's not really afraid of the media blowback anymore, like he's taken enough blowback.

“So I think… it's an indication that the next four years, he'll be kind of unrestrained, for good or for worse, he'll be unrestrained.”

Another man said he feels “excited” that “something will happen” over the next four years.

“I think he’s the right person to lead the country next four years,” he said.

“I feel excited that we'll see something happen, like unclear good or bad, but we'll see something happen, we'll see change.”

The group of students were especially excited to see Trump take such a strong stance on the Southern border and that he is designating cartels as foreign terrorist organisations.

Listen back here:

Donald Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the United States. Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, Pool)