Donald Trump’s most enduring theme is himself – always has been, and always will be. He is the poet laureate of self-aggrandizement. Exaggeration is how he lives and breathes. Everything he does is the greatest, the strongest, the boldest. On the eve of his return to the White House for the first time in more than 100 years, the former president told thousands of Red Hat supporters at a rally in Washington: “The best first day, the biggest first week, and the first presidential inauguration in American history.” The last 100 days have been the most extraordinary.”We don’t have to wait for history to pass judgment. When she defeated Kamala Harris in November, just four years after being rejected by voters, she declared her come-from-behind victory the result of “the greatest political movement in history” and sought a second term. promised to be the “best political movement”. America’s Golden Age. ”
Trump, who first rose to fame in the 1980s by building a golden skyscraper in New York that bears his name, returned to golden-era themes in his inaugural address on Monday, repeatedly referencing himself and his country. confused. Lead again. That speech included the remarkable statement that the Supreme Being had called this famous sinner back to power. “Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in 250 years of history,” Trump claimed, perhaps twice he faced during the 2024 presidential campaign. Probably referring to the assassination attempt. After a campaign and multiple legal challenges, he ultimately became the first convicted felon in history to be elected president. His conclusion? “I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Trump never mentioned his predecessor by name, but Joe Biden could not have made it more clear that January 20th is “Emancipation Day.” Mr. Biden was the man who promised four years ago to return the country to normalcy after Mr. Trump’s chaotic and dysfunctional first term. , but who instead set the stage for Trump’s return. President Trump began his speech bemoaning “American decline” by saying the country had suffered a “terrible betrayal” under Biden’s watch, but this echoed the famous “American carnage” of 2017. It was a reenactment of the speech. The previous government’s list of failures includes: It targets everything from immigration policy to an education system that teaches children to “hate our country.” But, as always, President Trump’s greatest passion was for things that touched him personally, and more importantly, Biden’s “Department of Justice’s vicious actions” against Trump and his supporters. “It was a violent and unjust weaponization.”
President Trump’s many personal grievances, and his apparent joy at the legitimacy his victory proves, set this inauguration apart from previous inaugurations, including the first one eight years ago. It made it very different. His 2017 inaugural address was the shortest inaugural address in recent history. Monday’s record was the longest in recent memory, at 29 minutes. It’s overtly partisan, overtly self-promotional, an amalgamation of a campaign rally and a State of the Union address, little more than a token nod to the ambitious rhetoric that usually sums up such speeches. Ta. Presidents have used this opportunity to speak of an angel greater than our true nature, to dispel fear, and to rouse America’s best talent. “Drill, baby, drill,” Trump said, offering a pledge to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Inauguration ceremonies in the past have been short, melancholy, and moving. Mr. Trump’s remarks were rambling, incoherent, and exaggerated. After all, this speech, which essentially threatened war against Panama, never mentioned the deadly conflict in Europe that he once promised to end within his first 24 hours as president. What should we ultimately think about?
It’s always going to be a day of cacophony. However, President Trump’s swearing-in in the Capitol Rotunda, which was held indoors due to the frigid weather, brought some clarity, including clarifying who will and will not evaluate the second administration. . The sight of America’s richest people, including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, standing in front of Trump’s incoming Cabinet and directly behind Trump’s own children reveals the power structure in the new Washington It was something. The lack of cheers from President Trump’s large crowd of MAGA supporters is a sign of the emerging and dangerous concept of a technological “oligarchy,” as Biden warned in his vitriol-filled farewell address to his successor last week. It only strengthened it. More traditional authorities, such as American governors, were relegated to overflow rooms. Hear that, Ron DeSantis.
But on Monday, it was Mr. Biden as much as Mr. Trump who pointedly explained the day’s contradictory messages. Before breakfast, the outgoing president announced many of the people high on Trump’s list of enemies, including former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, who rebelled against him, and members of the House Jan. 6 committee that conducted the investigation. He announced that he had pre-emptively pardoned him. he. Hours later, Biden stood on the steps of the White House and warmly greeted the man who inspired him to take this unprecedented action. “Welcome home,” he said. Less than an hour later, President Biden, who has repeatedly denounced Trump as a threat to democratic norms, pardoned five members of his own family in his final act in office. This was an exercise of personal power, and even many Democratic supporters were made to do so. Uncomfortable. It wasn’t even noon yet and I felt dizzy that day.
Most disorienting of all was the harrowing atmosphere evoked by the ceremony itself at the Capitol, where four years and two weeks ago a violent riot of Trump supporters erupted in an attempt to block the certification of Biden’s victory. It might have been a memory. President Trump did not mention the Jan. 6 rioters in his amphitheater speech, but later Monday he announced that he was preparing to pardon or commute the sentences of many people charged that day, and that he would be prepared to pardon or commute the sentences of many people charged that day. fulfilled its promise. These are people he now calls heroes and martyrs. This is also now clear.
Trump’s return to power, a crime scene born of his own refusal to admit defeat, was an unforgettable sight of the day, at least for me, long after Trump’s promise to “repeal the electric vehicle mandate.” It will be memorable. ” does not exist. Or you could rename a mountain in Alaska after fellow tariff-loving President William McKinley. This is Mr. Trump. I laughed out loud when I saw the Wall Street Journal’s preview of President Trump’s speech on Monday morning. The speech was promised to be “optimistic” and upbeat. That wasn’t the case. But I also believe that Trump’s followers, those who made up less than 50 percent of the voters who returned him to power, will soon follow him just as they did during the unforgivable events of January 6th. I’m sure you’ll find a way to forgive. Inevitably, it does, but it falls short of the luxurious promise of magical transformation.
Of course, much remains unknown about the next four years of Trump’s presidency, given a first term marked by two impeachments, a global pandemic, and a 2020 election that Trump has refused to accept. It would be foolish to publish predictions. But Trump’s own inaugural address showed that key facts about his second term are the same as his first. So for this president, it’s always about him. ♦
