WASHINGTON — In what will be a political change for the ages, Donald Trump said shortly after taking the oath of office next month that he intends to portray himself as something significantly off-brand: a unifier.
What was the theme of his inaugural address? “Unity,” he told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker in a recent interview.
“It makes you happy. It’s unity,” he said. “It will be a message of unity.”
What that actually means is anyone’s guess for now. Trump rose to power in 2016 over a divided electorate. He lost the White House four years later, but returned to power last month, using much the same blunt language and delivering much the same hardline message.
Mr. Trump, 78, has no intention of reinventing himself, and he has no intention of reinventing himself, with the second step he took regarding mass deportations and pardons for those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while Congress was counting electors. He has shown no signs of reconsidering his polarizing positions. Vote certifying Joe Biden’s victory.
He remains vocal and bitter, claiming he has been treated unfairly by judges, prosecutors, Democratic officials and the press. In an interview where he called for unity, he named the members of Congress who investigated the January 6 attack and said they should be jailed.
“We are not in a happy, applause era,” Steve Bannon, a senior White House adviser during President Trump’s first term, said in an interview. “Kamala Harris’ ‘politics of joy’ has failed. Why? Because the lived experience of Americans right now is not joyful. That’s why Trump won in a landslide.”
Still, some of Trump’s advisers say he is serious about bridging the political divide. He is in a unique position to do so now that he has completed his final campaign and hopes to cement his favorable place in history, they said.
Something unexpected happened in the November 5th election. Voters who had previously avoided Trump turned to him with fresh eyes. He won the popular vote for the first time in three tries, drawing support from Hispanic and black voters in key states who are usually part of Democratic coalitions.
A Pew Research Center poll conducted after the election found that most Americans approve of President Trump’s plans for the future. Majorities doubted whether Trump could broker détente between “red” and “blue” America, but felt warmer toward him than at the end of the 2016 and 2020 elections. Most people were holding it.
Dick Morris, a longtime unofficial political adviser to President Trump, said, “By effectively defeating Democrats in Congress and (winning) the popular vote and electoral votes, this is a bipartisan breakthrough.” I think he sees there’s a big opportunity for that.” He once served as a campaign adviser to Bill Clinton. “And I think he feels that the population is exhausted by both sides of the conflict and that there is a real opportunity here to open a new front.”
President Trump pollster John McLaughlin said it would be a mistake to immediately dismiss his calls for national reconciliation.
“As a businessman, Trump is not your typical politician,” McLaughlin said in an interview. “When he says something to you, you should take his word for it because he’s very direct.
“He’s going to try to unify the country,” McLaughlin continued. “President Trump only has one term in office. He will have opposition, but he wants to take on a historic presidency and accomplish more for the country.”
Uniting a divided nation is a goal shared by recent presidents, but none have achieved it. Polls show Americans are in a bad mood, with growing anxiety about the future and dissatisfaction with political leadership. One of the few commonalities is a collective belief that the country’s political system is broken, the study found.
Biden mentioned “unity” more than a dozen times in his 2021 inaugural address, but two-thirds of Americans now say the country has become more polarized since Biden took office. That’s what a Monmouth University poll revealed.
A starting point for Mr. Trump might be to spell out what he means when he says he wants to close political rifts.
Does that mean, in his mind, that his rivals should stifle opposition to his policies and join forces behind his policies? Or does it mean he will compromise with Democrats and stop attacking those who oppose him?
“Nobody’s ever gotten rich betting that Donald Trump will do the right thing, because he never will,” said Matt Bennett, co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way. speak
“President Trump will serve all Americans, including those who did not vote for him in the election,” Carolyn Leavitt, Trump’s transition spokeswoman, said in a statement. He will unite the country through success. ”
The inauguration, which will be watched live by millions of people, will be a clear platform for Mr. Trump to focus on healing the nation rather than stoking its divisions.
Every president wants at least part of his inaugural address to be memorable. Abraham Lincoln’s two speeches that ended the Civil War reached poetic heights. President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 speech set the tone for the new administration: The government is the problem. ”
President Trump’s first inaugural address was primarily remembered for the phrase “American carnage.” After finishing his speech, former President George W. Bush looked perplexed and said: “That was something strange–“
Bannon encouraged President Trump to try something new this time. It’s a gesture that could unite the right, left and center, given strong dissatisfaction with the members of Congress who sit on the risers directly behind President Trump.
“The only thing I would recommend to President Trump is that if he wants to unify the country, he should rotate the podium in the middle of his speech and face the political class in Washington, D.C., who are sitting on risers, and say that he wants to act on the Insurrection Act. ,” Bannon said. “Tell them things are going to change, there’s going to be a new sheriff in town, and then you’re going to turn around and finish addressing the American people. It’s going to unite the country.”
Often, the lofty prose of an inaugural address is quickly forgotten in the hustle and bustle of getting a new president off the ground.
Analysts say the ultimate test will not be what Trump says from his teleprompter, but what actions he will take over the next four years.
Ted Widmer, a former speechwriter in the Clinton White House and now a history professor at the City University of New York, said in an interview: It’s great to see Democrats in Congress enacting legislation that meets the needs and wants of different types of Americans. But no one expects that. It’s already slash and burn, and he’s not even president yet. He just appoints extremists to his cabinet. ”
