Trump’s Inauguration speech
Some excerpts:
The golden age of America begins right now. From this day forward, our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world. …
During every single day of the Trump administration, I will, very simply, put America first. 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 and prosperous and free.
That’s the hope that his election has engendered in a great many of us. Of course, those who think he’s practically a demon aren’t bying it.
More:
But first, we must be honest about the challenges we face.
What follows is a several-paragraphs-long description of some of the awful things that have happened during the preceding four years. And then:
Our recent election is 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. From this moment on, America’s decline is over.
Let’s hope so. He has his work cut out for him.
This part gives me pause, though:
Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history, and I’ve learned a lot along the way.
It’s true that Trump has faced incredible tests and challenges. But no, not more than any president in history. Just to take one simple example, there’s Lincoln, who faced a Civil War, as bad a press as Trump dealt with, and then a successful assassination.
Trump added:
Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed to take my life. Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.
Many many people agree. The improbable nature of the last-minute turn of the head that saved Trump from being assassinated with cameras running lends itself quite naturally to the idea that the deity saved him. But I think that, although that idea is not incompatible with humility, it could also lead to hubris.
Much of the rest of the speech was about the executive orders he plans to sign. I’m going to deal with those in another post.
I like this part:
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 as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do. In America, the impossible is what we do best.
It did seem impossible. But here he is. And here we are, at another crossroads.
Trump cannot help himself. Bombast is part of his DNA; and he would be so much more effective if it weren’t.
On the other hand, stripped to its essentials, his speech rightfully flayed his enemies. It is hard to blame him for reminding the world of what they attempted to do to him, and how completely he triumphed over them. Not to mention the harm they inflicted on America.
I often cringe at the excesses of his rhetoric, while applauding his policies, admiring his courage, and marveling at his stamina.
Oldflyer:
Indeed.
I don’t know whether it’s salient or not, but the term “Greenland” doesn’t appear in this speech. Ah well, perhaps something substantive is afoot anyhow.
Yes, he’s prone to inflating his story, and yes, Lincoln was challenged more than Trump for the four years of a brutal war to save the Union. But I have to admit he’s been through a lot, and most of it was personally and illegitimately targeted at him.
Trump’s challenges came from within the nation and from the actual government.
More/less difficult, but different.
I just looked at a local news website, the left-wing WRAL in Raleigh. There’s a link to Politifact doing a live “fact checking” of the inaugural speech. They never give up.
I like this version of the events with everyone indoors. It was great to see the closeup, the slower tempo to get everyone in – more pomp in a way. They could schedule more events around the country just as they have many parties for those who don’t want to travel.
And, have a grand Fourth of July parade, flyovers, fireworks and so on as an additional celebration of the Inauguration.
Kate, I grew up on WRAL, my parent’s local station for news, weather, etc. It was annoying to me even as a child in the 60s and 70s.
I always associated them with the Raleigh News & Observer, the Dem Party paper. Is that rag still in print?
”And, have a grand Fourth of July parade, flyovers, fireworks and so on as an additional celebration of the Inauguration.”
I suspect the big 4th of July celebration will be at Mount Rushmore.
I have worked in nearly 20 foreign countries, often on difficult projects requiring hard work, long hours, risk* and uncertainty. Often there would be a point when one of my foreign co-workers would get frustrated at my calmly insisting we keep pushing forward despite some difficulty and he or she would blurt out, “you Americans, you think everything is possible!”
I always found it interesting they thought this was a devastating insult.
*Nothing physically risky, just financial risk and risk of losing one’s job.
Well stated, Oldflyer.
I celebrate his election and having made it to the inauguration. That said, the real battle has just begun.
“Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history, and I’ve learned a lot along the way.” President Trump
We are all our own worst enemies and like most great men, his flaws match his talents. Sadly, he’s never learned/embraced the value of self-depreciative understatement. How much more memorable would it have been had he said, ‘Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged perhaps as much as any other president in our 250-year history, and I’ve learned a lot along the way.’
I think his statement “I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history,” is referring to the lawfare, including the attempts to keep him off the ballot. Financial penalties in excess of more than $500 million (reduced to a mere $300 million, or so). Convicted of 34 felonies with potential jail time of the rest of his life– never even getting to the three trials that would have likely resulted in jail time. And all of that is ignoring his entire first term he was investigated and impeached multiple times.
Yes, unlike Lincoln, his assassin missed killing him and Trump didn’t face a war going badly for a time, but I think the case can be made that Trump’s claim is reasonable.
Telemachus, I think WRAL (Capital Broadcasting) and the News & Observer are separate, but much alike in leftist slant. I think the N&O is losing customers like most all the newspapers. Both institutions, founded in racism and segregation, now like to self-righteously pretend that it’s really Republicans who are the bad guys.
mkent (5:05 pm) said:
“I suspect the big 4th of July celebration will be at Mount Rushmore.”
That’s with or without Biden’s face on it (per Princess Pelosi’s fantasy)? [snicker]
As Rev. Franklin Graham said, “Look what God has done.”