President Donald Trump's Inaugural Parade kicks off

President Donald Trump's Inaugural Parade kicks off



President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump have arrived at the White House for their first time in their new roles.

The couple and the rest of their family arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue shortly before 5pm and immediately made their way to the North Lawn Reviewing Stand to take in the Inaugural Parade.

Walking towards his seat, the newly sworn-in president told reporters the day had been 'unbelievable'.



Earlier, he waved to crowds on Pennsylvania Avenue after emerging with his family from the presidential limousine for a brief appearance.



President Trump held hands with his wife as they and their 10-year-old son greeted crowds who had gathered despite the drizzling rain.

Later, he will attend three inaugural balls thrown in his honor.

The first two events, Liberty and Freedom: The Official Presidential Inaugural Balls, were open to the public. There, the president and first lady are expected to have their first dance together since his inauguration.



'It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day, this is your celebration, and this, the United States of America, is your country.'

Speaking of the 'American carnage' of inner city blight, crime and failing schools, he vowed that it 'stops right here, and stops right now.'

'We are one nation, and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams, and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home and one glorious destiny.'

Trump pumped a fist in triumph after he finished speaking.  Asked how it felt moments after the ceremony concluded, Eric Trump grinned and flashed a thumbs-up.

Former Trump rival Ohio Governor John Kasich was in no mood to reflect on the change of leadership.

'I'm not doing any interviews right now,' he told DailyMail.com inside the Capitol.



Trump didn't let the threat of Washington, D.C. rain showers spoil his inauguration, the long-time-coming culmination of an improbable political revolution that shows no sign of letting up.

The brash billionaire capped off a three-day parade of dinners, speeches, prayers and a concert with pomp and circumstance in front of the U.S. capitol as hundreds of thousands of Americans who he has said were 'forgotten' during the Obama years cheered him on.

The 45th president's hated 'dishonest media' watched as storm clouds threatened, along with four former presidents, most of the U.S. Congress and a sea of 'Make America Great Again' devotees.

The sea of faces on the National Mall was dotted with red caps, Trump's signature campaign items bearing that slogan, itself an artifact from Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign.

When Trump was introduced, he turned and faced the crowd, smiled, and offered a wave.

Quoting Abraham Lincoln, Missouri Senator Roy Blunt, who headed the inaugural committee in the Congress, told the nation: 'What we do here is both commonplace and miraculous.'

Blunt called it 'not a celebration of victory,' but 'a celebration of democracy.'

Other senators visible on the balcony overlooking reporters included West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who met with Trump at Trump Tower, and Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina. Burr will oversee a Senate Intelligence Committee investigation into Russian election-year hacking.



Across the balcony to the south, House Appropriations chair Harold Rogers of Kentucky, who will oversee funding of Trump's proposed wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, picked a prominent standing position.

Standing next to Rogers was Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, who had been a candidate for secretary of state.

A U.S. Marine Corps band played Sousa marches. Chants of 'U.S.A.!' broke out. Cheers erupted when the vice-president elect, Mike Pence, was announced, among the standing-room crowd stretching more than a mile to the west.

And as giant TV screens flashed mobs of Americans their first glimpse of the new president behind the scenes, a rock concert-like whoop went up. Before he was introduced, screams of 'Trump! Trump! Trump!' reverberated on a scale even though he has never seen or heard.

Among Trump's living predecessors, only George H.W. Bush failed to make the trip, owing to his hospitalization in Texas. He sent his regrets to Trump, writing that his doctor warned sitting outside in the cold would put him 'six feet under.'

Standing on the dais were his son, George W. Bush; Jimmy Carter; Bill Clinton; and Barack Obama.

Trump's crowd applauded the outgoing chief executive of the U.S., audibly surprising some members of the media whose seats were far to the front.