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.”
Huxley made a similar point in a previous post. I agree with him (again).
This was a speech Trump earned. While I cringed a bit during his first inaugural, I cheered this one. It was absolutely the least those bastards deserved, and with the power of the pardon it is likely all they will get.
Happy Inauguration Day!
I agree with commenters who have pointed out that Trump’s bombast is off-putting, but I am so glad he was there today taking the oath of office. Now we all need to pray he and his staff stay safe and are able to accomplish a good bit of what he has promised.
On another topic, I am outraged at Biden’s pardon of his family. The way I look at it he has effectively admitted his family broke the law. Either that or else he is acknowledging that the DOJ (at least HIS DOJ) engages in law fare. Either way, it’s a really bad look. I don’t want the Trump administration to engage in vindictiveness, but I hate to see Biden thumb his name at the law. Such a bad, bad look.
Trump might have been the most personally beleaguered president. His statement also made me grow my teeth, but then I thought about it, and… it might be true, on a personal level.
Does having been pardoned invalidate protection afforded under the Fifth Amendment for testimony connected to the pardoned event?
I do not understand those that take offense from what Trump says and how he says it. Were he to adhere to the so-called norms and acceptable manners of speech he would never have been elected in 2016, never mind 2024. To me the duplicitous speech and lying of pols like Joe Biden, Chuck Schumer, and Nancy Pelosi, however polite, are much more dangerous and offensive.
Richard Aubrey:
The person could try to claim that because he or she is still subject to state prosecution, the Fifth is still available. Jonathan Turley writes that, because of “statutes of limitation and other factors,” that argument wouldn’t necessarily work.
I’m not sure.
steve walsh:
A person can take offense at some things that Trump says while still agreeing that they’re nowhere near as important as what the opposition does regularly.
An apt commentary on the day, being as a picture is worth a thousand words (was that pre- or post-Bidenflation?)
Meetings of presidents & presidents-to-be.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/img.png?w=526
I’m not sure if this is an authentic photo, it may just be fake but accurate (h/t Dan Rather).
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/gg_ifycwmaavmj0.jpg?w=680
Once Trump’s nominees for office are approved, life is really going to get interesting.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1726795741508149248.jpg?w=563
Which is why Biden issued so many pardons in his last days and (literally) minutes.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1727248027619434496.jpg?w=782
Is
finally ending, shown for what it always was by FJB?
Amazed, amused, and happy. Welcome back President Trump.
DJT said what no other pol would say on this occasion. He called out the corruption and venality of his predecessor to his face. One thing to accept about Trump, he knows how to play rough.
I am amazed that the resistance is still not organized. I am happy to see there has been little in the way of violence. But it’s early days. When the deportations begin, there may be more pushback.
The state of WA is, like CA, preparing to hinder deportations. We’ll see how far they get.
Anyway, even the news conferences will be amazing, amusing, and transparent for the next four years.
A Presidental Pardon only affects Federal actions so I’m quite sure a person pardoned by Biden can claim the Fifth Amendment if charged in a state court (one of the reasons for the state actions against Trump in NY and GA). The USSC case (Burdick v US) regarding the Fifth Amendment and pardons originated because the Woodrow Wilson administration was trying to compel testimony by nullifying the right to avoid self-incrimination via the pardons. It established the right to refuse a pardon to preserve that right, though some dispute that it defined acceptance of a pardon as an admission of guilt.
I watched Trump, in the Oval Office, last night, signing one executive order after another, with running commentary and answers to reporters’ questions. It is good to have a live president again.
A big question is how many and how often “republicans” will try to sandbag Trump policies.
Forming circular firing squads is a unique talent that republicans possess. You’ll rarely see democrats to this.
Normally would have been working , but luckily had to work night shift so got to watch it.
It’s going to be a fun 4 years
Some lines from the speech: “The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts. The call of the next great adventure resounds from within our souls. Our American ancestors turned a small group of colonies on the edge of a vast continent into a mighty republic of the most extraordinary citizens on earth….Americans pushed thousands of miles through a rugged land of untamed wilderness”….reminded me of a Tom Russell song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNoh9wnlzgU
(though I’m not sure Tom would approve of his song being cited in this context)
AesopFan: “Meetings of presidents & presidents-to-be.”
From those two photos, also interesting that Trump is to the right of Reagan, while Biden is to the left of Carter!! Make of that what we will?
Thanks for transcript and great comments, Neo. Especially the exaggeration about being more tested than any other; Lincoln was more tested. Ike as general before becoming President.
But it’s a subjective truth, since no other President has been impeached twice, which is a challenge to their Presidency, and is pretty objectively true.