On Friday, January 20th, the world tuned in as America inaugurated Donald Trump as its 45th president. The world was watching, tweeting, and posting. Here’s a quick snapshot:
Across the world, front pages of newspapers captured the global historical moment:
From the Cape Times of South Africa:
https://twitter.com/jasonelk/status/822335704550281216
The U.K’s Daily Mirror:
Tomorrow's Daily Mirror front page: Trump's war on the world. #tomorrowspaperstoday #Inauguration https://t.co/HuEysdm03U pic.twitter.com/YTnxSoUM2Z
— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) January 20, 2017
The front page of the Buenos Aires Herald:
Herald front page, Friday January 20, 2017. pic.twitter.com/EF2r4XlPph
— Buenos Aires Herald (@BAHeraldcom) January 20, 2017
And the Toronto Star:
On Twitter, Brazilians expressed their thoughts about Trump’s inauguration with a hashtag #PosseDeTrump:
Filho de imigrante, neto de imigrantes, casado com uma imigrante e defende que a América é para os americanos! Quer dizer… #PossedeTrump
— Snap: thecacau (@cacaudossantos) January 20, 2017
(Son of an immigrant, grandson of immigrants, married to an immigrant, and says that America is for the Americans!)
From Mexico:
Recuerda, cuando pienses que algo es imposible, que Donald Trump acaba de jurar su cargo como presidente de los Estados Unidos de América.
— Juan Carlos Vélez (@jcvelez) January 20, 2017
“Remember, when you think something is impossible, that Donald Trump is about to be sworn in as president of the United States of America.”
Former Mexican president Vicente Fox continued his Twitter tirade against Trump for inauguration day:
The world is listening, Trump. This day shall be remember as the day that AMERICA mourned for its own greatness.
— Vicente Fox Quesada (@VicenteFoxQue) January 20, 2017
Far right leader Geert Wilders of the Netherlands congratulated Trump:
Congratulations @POTUS President Trump!!
Gefeliciteerd President Trump!! pic.twitter.com/H1sJJ6L73p
— Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) January 20, 2017
From India’s Prime Minister:
Looking forward to working with President @realDonaldTrump to further deepen India-US ties & realise the full potential of our cooperation.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 20, 2017
Some Kenyans had fun with Obama’s departure:
Hehehe. When you forget your Kenyan passport in the White House and Trump is about to move in pic.twitter.com/x8jQku6BqT
— Mohamed Wehliye (@WehliyeMohamed) January 20, 2017
From Kenya’s Daily Nation:
MUNENE: Editorial Cartoon. https://t.co/lk9WZqBY1j #DNEditorial pic.twitter.com/RzRn5GvmOy
— Daily Nation (@dailynation) January 20, 2017
I also asked non-Americans on Twitter to send me what President Trump’s inauguration means to them. Here’s what a few of them said.
From Ecuador, Andres B. wrote:
“I’m cautiously optimistic about his presidency and there are a lot of things I like about him. More than anything I hope that he keeps his promise to strengthen the US with fair deals, not wars. I just want the US to stop bleeding the middle East, the exact opposite of what both Obama and George W. did.”
Luis Rodriguez, an immigrant to the United States from Panama, wrote:
“My whole life I had the hope to pursue the American Dream, where anyone with the drive and working ethic would have the opportunity to become someone in America…The inauguration of Trump to me was the conclusion of a year of the American Dream being torn down in front of me. The surprising part is that it did not come from Trump himself. It came from the American people.”
Connie Boudens from Canada wrote:
“As a Canadian, Trump’s inauguration means that we need to stand in defense of Canadian values in a very active way. American values have a way of slowly moving across the border, so that things that are considered acceptable in America come to be considered acceptable, and even desirable, over the course of time. We now have at least 2 people running for the leadership of one of our major political parties who are espousing the same values that Trump holds dear, and one of them is even based in New York!”
Or maybe different president was moving into the White House. This cartoon is from Canadan cartoonist Theo Mudakis:
ICYMI "Putin Moves In" Cartoon in @TorontoStar #Inauguration pic.twitter.com/GCmMsx7ZER
— Theo Moudakis (@TheoMoudakis) January 20, 2017