President Trump’s inaugural speech was excellent
Well, it’s a done deal. President Trump is back in the White House, and I am so grateful. Knowing that the bizarre collection of demented, sexually confused, antisemitic, racist, incompetent leftist administration is gone from the White House is a tremendous relief. Now, though, as President Donald Trump said in a 29-minute speech (neither too short nor too long) that was a balanced combination of practical steps toward American greatness and soaring rhetoric. There’s still much to be done.
Trump opened with incredible optimism. “The Golden Age of America begins right now.” Then, like a prophet, he made some very important promises about what his administration holds, not for privileged classes, but for all Americans:
From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. We will be the envy of every nation, and we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer. ... Our sovereignty will be reclaimed. Our safety will be restored. The scales of justice will be rebalanced. The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end. And our top priority will be to create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free.
My favorite part of the above statement, though, was this: “During every single day of the Trump administration, I will very simply put America first.” That’s it. That’s the constitutional chief executive’s primary job. His job is not to put first other parts of the world or people who are here illegally. His job is to put us—the Americans—first.
Image: YouTube screen grab.
Having started with the promises, Trump listed the hurdles he faces, with each item listed being an indirect slap in the face of Joe Biden, who caused the problems bedeviling America.
Trump directly attacked the “radical and corrupt establishment” that is breaking America. He noted its inability to protect Americans from crime, foreign invaders, and natural disasters. He castigated the overpriced, inefficient public health system and the anti-Americanism that pervades education.
Trump was unabashed about his authority to bring about change:
My recent election has a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal, and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed, their freedom.
To give credence to his promise to undo the damage of years of government mismanagement and power grabs, Trump reminded Americans that he has suffered with them, having both his liberty and his life threatened in the most profound ways. And showing a newfound humility, when it came to this last, while Trump reiterated his long-standing promise to Make America Great Again, this time he added something: “I was saved by God to make America great again.” He is both a man with a mission and an understanding that something much greater than the New York Times is watching him.
After a grateful nod to the black and Hispanic voters who abandoned the Democrats in droves, Trump turned to his plans for his next term.
First, Trump promised to declare a national emergency at the Southern border, which unleashes significant powers and funding. He said he would return “millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.” There are a couple of interesting things about that line.
Since all illegal aliens are, by definition, criminals, it’s a pleasantly ambiguous sentence that could refer to those who “merely” broke into America or those who committed further crimes once here.
The phrase “to the places from which they came” also echoes what British judges used to say to criminals who had just been condemned to death:
The sentence of this court is that you will be taken from here to the place from whence you came [jail] and there be kept in close confinement until [the date of execution], and upon that day that you be taken to the place of execution and there hanged by the neck until you are dead. And may God have mercy upon your soul.
Trump is not executing anyone, but I found that old British phrase very powerful because I have a context for it.
Also, on the topic of immigration, Trump promised to reinstate the “remain in Mexico” policy and to stop catch and release. He’ll use the military to “repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” which is something our military is intended to do. Finally, Trump is going after the cartels, declaring them foreign terrorist organizations, a designation that grants significant power to the federal government to deal with them.
Second, Trump promised to heal the economy. He will cut spending and “drill, baby, drill.” That should rein in inflation and unleash prosperity that helps pay down the staggering national debt.
The New Green Deal is over, a gift both to Americans and to American autoworkers who backed Trump in this election.
Regarding tariffs, Trump is doing something no president in my lifetime has done. He’s not using tariffs to protect one or another industry or as a favor to a rich friend or profitable lobbyists. He is using tariffs in a strategic way to weaken our greatest geopolitical enemy and to reinvigorate America’s industrial sector. This is “yuuge.” He means it when he says he’s establishing an “External Revenue Service” so that “massive amounts of money” will be “pouring into our treasury...from foreign sources.”
Third, Trump reiterated that DOGE is coming! Yay.
Fourth, Trump is ending DEI. As far as the US government is concerned, there are only two sexes and one race (American). That is a giant step toward sanity and national cohesion.
Fifth, Trump will reinstate vaccine-fired troops with back pay and return the military to its mission of defending America, not being a social justice experiment. Regarding a strong military, Trump essentially promised peace through strength: “We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.”
Sixth, Trump promised to get the Panama Canal back, and he advanced an interesting argument: Panama has reneged on the original treaty, which saw Panama promise that (a) it would control the canal and (b) it would treat America favorably or, at least, fairly. Instead, it overcharges American ships, including our Navy, and it does so because it has ceded control over the canal to China, our greatest geopolitical enemy. This violates the sale’s terms and, essentially, justifies rescission. I like that.
Trump wrapped up his speech by reminding Americans that we are a people who have done amazing things for almost 250 years. In science, medicine, innovation, and the spread of prosperity and liberty, there is no nation like ours. “Ambition,” he said, “is the lifeblood of a great nation, and, right now, our nation is more ambitious than any other.” This is as true today as it ever was. It’s government overreach that quashes this spirit, and Trump promises to take that boot off our backs.
For uplifting rhetoric, you can’t do better than this:
If we work together, there is nothing we cannot do and no dream we cannot achieve. Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback. But as you see today, here I am, the American people have spoken. I stand before you now is proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do.
In America, the impossible is what we do best.
Trump is returning to office loaded for bear and determined to Make America Great Again. And this time around, I truly think he will.