Melania Trump’s wide-brimmed hat, Barron Trump’s towering 6 feet 9 inches height, John Fetterman’s bare legs, Elon Musk’s controversial ‘Heil’ salute, a White House tea for two, and President Donald John Trump dancing with a military sword to ‘YMCA’…
“Extraordinary”, “Interesting”, observed American television news anchors as they watched ‘The second inauguration of Donald J. Trump 2025’ (CBS) live.
A national emergency along the US-Mexico border, a pardon for 1,500 prisoners who allegedly attacked Capitol Hill in January 2021, a pull-out from the Paris climate change agreement, quitting the World Health Organization, ending birthright citizenship, renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and “…drill baby drill…”
These were just some of the over 100 executive orders signed by the new president on ‘Don’s 1 Day’(The New Indian Express).
“Er, extraordinary”, “Interesting”, repeated US TV reporters and anchors.
It was though many of them had been, momentarily, robbed of the vocabulary to describe the return of ‘Donaald’, as many Hindi news channel reporters fondly called him and fell back on platitudes. That was true of some Indian news outlets, too.
Everything was equally “extraordinary”—Trump’s executive orders were “extraordinary”, former president Joe Biden touching the door of the ‘Beast’ limousine—one last time—was “extraordinary” too.
CNN International found Trump’s comeback ‘stunning’; in India, The Times of India wrote that one of his executive orders “left many members of the Indian diaspora stunned”; while HT City’s fashionistas thought ‘Second lady Usha Vance stunned in her statement pink outfit’ at the inauguration.
For NBC News, it was a “historic day”; at CBS News, the reporter actually wished viewers a “happy inauguration day”. To set itself apart from its transatlantic colleagues, BBC World dwelt on a “remarkable” day. Viewers saw a sunny but very windy day in which Melania Trump’s “boater hat” remained the only unmovable object.
Also read: Can Trump go through with his bid to end birthright citizenship & how move may impact immigrants
US media: hailing and failing
The American news channels spent 20 January celebrating the new commander-in-chief’s s arrival at the White House, with live coverage from roughly 6 am to past midnight—that’s 18 hours, folks. No wonder they ran out of things to say…
So, they talked of this and that: On CNN International, they discussed the White House staff moving out one president and the other one in—“…we know where to put the toothbrush…”
At the inaugural ball, they swooned over Melania’s and Usha’s ballroom gowns, as well as the Trump-Vance sword mastery. During the swearing-in ceremony, they tried to read lips: What did former president Barack Obama whisper as he passed by ex-president George W Bush? The consensus was, “How can we stop this?”
Meanwhile, they marvelled at the assembly of tech tops, led by Elon Musk, huddled together behind the Trump family.
(By the way, Indian news channel WION estimated that this honour cost them $500,000 each—“a pricey affair”.)
These American news channels, barring Fox News, pointedly reminded us that the traditions observed this time were absent four years ago, when Trump had ignored such niceties.
ABC News anchors just couldn’t get over the “extraordinary scenes” of Trump and new vice-president JD Vance being cordial and cordially welcomed by outgoing president Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris. Joe and Donald drinking tea at the White House became a symbol of Biden sending out a “strong message”.
Their drive together to Capitol Hill for the inauguration was a ‘projection on unity” for NBC News.
The Trump speech after the swearing in received mixed reactions, depending on the news channel’s politics: Fox News hailed it, CNN International failed it—he talked a lot about himself, it said, “a dark and ambitious speech”.
Also read: In a Trumpian world—territorial conquest returns as great powers test the limits of aggression
Trump 2.0 in Indian media
In India, television news was divided between fascination and fear. This Times Now headline sums it up: ‘World waiting with bated breath—Tectonic change, electric excitement.’ “Everyone is scared, America itself is scared,” said Aaj Tak.
Indians or NRIs in Washington expressed similar sentiments: “It’s amazing to see,” said one man of Indian origin “It’s not exciting,” said his son, “It’s interesting.” (Aaj Tak). “He (Trump) is authentic. He does what he says…” another person told India Today. “He can do anything,” said Ravi Agrawal, editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine (India Today).
Some news channels reminded us that the Howdy Modi Howdy Trump ‘dosti’ remained intact—‘Modi-Trump chemistry strong,” wrote India News. “India’s enemies have lost sleep,” declared TV9 Bharatvarsh.
“Trump and Modi to reshape world order,” wrote Times Now. India TV let its imagination take over: it said Pakistan was worried by what Modi and Trump might do; would Sheikh Hasin return to power in Bangladesh, would Trump stop a third world war? Or the murder of Hindus (in Bangladesh)…
As President Trump was being sworn in, a few channels began to applaud, not his presidency, but what Republic TV called, ‘The end of wokeism’. ‘#Wokes go crazy’.
On Times Now, the 9 pm anchor proclaimed the “death knell for woke.” ‘Donald Trump, Modi and Netanyahu prevail’. In other words, the right is right, and the left is being caught on the wrong foot.
All this trumpeting of Trump 2.0 was soon muted by Trump’s executive order on illegal immigration and ending birthright citizenship—something that directly affects Indians in the US. News channels sobered up to discuss the implications of these decisions for India and the reality of the Trump presidency.
Newspapers were equally circumspect: take The Indian Express, for example. On Tuesday, 21 January, it led with the big. banner headline: “Golden Age of America Begins Now” from Trump’s speech. Beneath, it carried another story: “Delhi’s challenge: Trump will play hardball, change rules of the game.”
On Wednesday, 22 January, the lead headline went straight to the heart of the matter: “Trump to end birthright citizenship, will hit Indians in US.’ Another story said there were 20,000 ‘undocumented’ Indians living in the US.
Major English newspapers wrote editorials with advice on how to make India-US relations great, again. The Times of India in ‘Grow, Find leverage’, wrote that while there is no denying “… India faces strategic risks from an America that turns in ‘bold and controversial’ ways…. Grow fast and furious, and that’ll be the best news for the Trump-India relationship.”
The author tweets @shailajabajpai. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant)