Donald Trump’s inauguration speech was a clarion call for a more simple, old-fashioned America based on common sense values rather than identity politics and a promise to always put American interests first across trade, the economy and global affairs.
Framing himself as a ‘peacemaker and a unifier’, the new president pledged to keep the nation out of unnecessary wars and to tax other countries through a tariff regime which is claimed would benefit American workers and help restore its manufacturing might.
In a dark speech that mirrored much of his campaign rhetoric, the 78-year-old portrayed the nation as a paradise lost, accusing the Biden administration and the political establishment of a ‘horrible betrayal’ of the people.
Trump declared his own ascension to the presidency as ‘liberation day’.
While Trump didn’t use the term ‘American carnage’ or ‘forgotten people’ as he did in his first inauguration speech in 2017, he said the country had lost its way with a ‘radical and corrupt establishment’ taking power and wealth from ordinary people.
He took direct shots at the Biden administration for failing on a series of policies from illegal immigration, law and order, inflation, the environment, energy, public health and free speech.
He especially took aim at the cultural fabric of the country under the Democrats, which he said had helped create an education system that taught children to be ashamed of their country and one that fostered confusion over gender and promoted censorship.
He accused the Biden administration of ‘stumbling’ into a catalogue of ‘catastrophic events abroad’ without naming them. However he used the speech to take credit for the ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of the first hostages.
He also attacked the ‘weaponisation of the justice system’ against him and vowed to end that form of lawfare in the future.
Trump’s speech was a succinct version of his long campaign speeches, full of exaggerations but always hitting the target with its central messages.
He went out of his way to specifically thank African-American and Hispanic voters who were a key factor in his election victory but said his election win was the result of ‘the entire nation’ – ‘urban, suburban and rural’ – embracing his agenda.
The inauguration was robbed of some of its theatre by the fact it was held in the Capitol building rather than outside because of the weather.
But no one could miss the palpable discomfort of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – and former Democrat presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama – as Trump excoriated the Democrats and the kind of America he said they had created.
Trump spoke of his own remarkable political comeback saying that the fact he was standing there, especially after an assassination attempt against him and his legal battles, showed that nothing was impossible in America.
With billionaire tech icon Elon Musk giving a thumbs up behind the new president, Trump pledged to send American astronauts to plant the flag on Mars and called for a rekindling of ambition to achieve the nation’s dreams.
The president shortly afterwards backed up his rhetoric by signing a number of executive orders as he had promised, including declaring an emergency and deploying troops to the southern border to halt illegal immigration.
In short, the America that Trump says he wants to produce – proud, strong and prosperous – is a similar vision to the America he promised to create in 2017.
In his first term he largely failed in his mission because he oversaw a chaotic and dysfunctional White House and because Trump could not bend a hostile Washington to his ways.
This time around, Trump is wiser and more experienced about how the levers of power work in the nation’s capital.
He has won a resounding victory and has a powerful mandate backed by a congressional majority.
That is why the promises which Trump has given in this inauguration speech are much more likely to be realised now than they were during his first term.
Trump’s speech was the speech you would expect of a disrupter-in-chief but this time around he has the tools to achieve his agenda like never before.
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