President Trump and the end of politics as usual
President Donald J. Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on Friday, and he began his term with a call to action and a promise that politics as usual would come to a grinding halt in Washington, D.C.
“The time for empty talk is over,” the new president said in his inaugural address. “Now arrives the hour of action.”
That might have scared the senators and representatives who were in ample attendance (despite the few loudly trumpeted absences) but you could not tell so by the conviviality and collegiality shared by both Democrats and Republicans during Trump’s day of celebration.
On Friday, it appeared rather that Trump was right when he said, “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.”
He was confident and exuberant as he declared, “We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the American people … The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”
Undoubtedly, one of the most notable features of the president’s speech was the lack of focus on the infamous Trump ego and the repeated emphasis on the American public. “Together, WE will determine the course of America and the world for years to come. WE will face challenges. WE will confront hardships. But WE will get the job done.”
Indeed, President Trump didn’t just take the oath of office Friday, he said he also was taking “an oath of allegiance to all Americans.”
There were echoes of other inspirational presidents in Trump’s speech. You could hear Kennedy’s national pride in the president’s pledge to “unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.” You could hear FDR’s reassurance in Trump’s insistence that “When America is united, America is unstoppable. There should be no fear.” You could even hear President Lincoln’s sense of national destiny in the opening words: “We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people.”
The next four years will be long, hard years for President Trump as he works to heal a nation that has obvious and painful divisions, but based on the vision he expressed in his inaugural address, it can be said that he is off to a good start.