It is a stark reminder that while the president claims to speak for all American people, he has alienated, vilified and angered a great number of his fellow citizens.

And the combative rhetoric delivered in his first address after being sworn in gives the world a glimpse of what is in store during his reign in the White House.

Within hours of President Trump being sworn in he had already begun to gut Obamacare and all references to climate change vanished from the official White House website. Border protection has become the issue of the day.

The world watches on and knows this is only the beginning of what could be a divisive and confrontational reign that some experts warn could threaten world order.

That significantly fewer Americans turned out to the inauguration event than did for Obama in 2009 sends a strong message and so too does the violent clashes in the city.

There were more peaceful, but no less serious, protest marches around the world in response to the swearing-in of the new president.

Hundreds of Canberrans marched in solidarity with those in other capital cities against President Trump and the sexist statements he made during the campaign.

But the fact that they were also marching for broader issues closer to home is a sad indictment on our society and something that Trump alone can not be blamed for.

Sexual assaults, the wage gap, institutional discrimination, attacks on women of colour and the LGBTI community, and reproductive rights were all in the protesters' sights.

In this day and age there should not have to be protests about such things, and that there is shows that Australia - and Canberra - has its own problems to deal with.

The city does not need to look to America and the country's new president for inspiration - we have our own fights to win back home.