By freshidea @Adobe Stock
Sweeping Away the Last Four Years
President Trump has never been short on verbosity and redundancy, as Noah Rothman notes in NRO. Trump’s Inaugural address might have reminded Americans why they either love him or not. To some, it’s like receiving a surprise gift box, nervous about what’s inside – an exquisite celebration cake or a severed head.
Trump’s Big Agenda
Trump largely dispensed with the high-flown poetic rhetoric that so often adorns inaugural addresses and, sometimes, weighs them down. Instead, he opted for a more practical speech — a litany of to-do items. And the agenda is not exactly light.
Tomorrow, the Party’s Over
In that pursuit, he will declare a “national emergency at our southern border,” put a halt to “all illegal entry” into the country, and “begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.” In addition, he will designate Latin American drug cartels “foreign terrorist organizations” to eliminate the presence of “foreign gangs and networks” on US soil.
Overhaul US Trade
Trump promises to create a department of “external revenue” to collect untold sums that will flow into the treasury from a schedule of tariffs targeting America’s allies.“
Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” promised Mr. Trump.
Revoking the EV Mandate
To save the US auto industry and keep Trump’s “sacred pledge” to America’s great American auto workers,” Trump promised to make America “a manufacturing nation again.” (The U.S. is already the second-largest manufacturing nation in the world behind China).
According to Donald Trump, his executive order to repeal Joe Biden’s restrictions on domestic energy exploration “will make America a rich nation again.”
US Military: Reform
As though there wasn’t enough to take away America’s collective breath, Trump also promises to reform the U.S. military by reinstating back pay to enlisted personnel expelled from service for refusing a Covid vaccine, putting an end to social experimentation (e.g., “wokeness”) in the armed services, and restoring deterrence abroad — which will be measured “not only by the battles we win, but by the wars we end and, more importantly, the wars we never get into.”
Trump also has pledged to devote himself to the crises he accused Biden of overlooking: “Our country cannot deliver basic services as shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina who were treated so badly,” Trump lamented. “We will fix it!”
Conflict with the Panama Canal
Will there be a confrontation in Panama over the canal? Trump accuses Panama of “broken” promises to the US by charging “exorbitant prices and rates of passage” through the Canal Zone.
“The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated,” Trump argued. “China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”
Trump also pledged to rename the “Gulf of Mexico” the “Gulf of America.” He wants a policy that “expands our territory” that will not be limited to terrestrial bounds.
“We will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars by launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.”
Which Priorities Are Urgent
Broadly understood, Trump does have a mandate for change, submits Mr. Rothman.
In a fitting end to Joe Biden’s presidency, the outgoing Democrat was forced to sit through a scolding lecture about the extent to which he had failed the American people. His government presided over “a crisis of trust.” It was one that “cannot manage” domestic crises even as it “stumbled into” crises abroad, and it was shot through with members of the “radical establishment” who “extracted wealth” from this country while giving nothing back. Biden’s administration was typified by “many betrayals.”
Trump Administration Will Deliver
President Joe Biden’s mandate was much narrower than Joe’s interpretation of it was. Misapprehension led Biden to overreach and, subsequently, fail.
Voters seemed willing to absolve Biden of responsibility for the crisis he inherited — the pandemic — but they were not so charitable when it came to the pandemic’s downstream effects: inflation, social degradation, lawlessness, and the maturation of a generation struggling to make up lost ground.
Trump’s 2nd presidency has been given the task of straightening an impossible mess. Voters may not blame him if immediately the ideal immigration regime he envisions doesn’t materialize or if prices and wages do not achieve some tolerable equilibrium in short order. Voters, however, will withhold their enthusiasm should Trump lose sight of these goals and fixates instead on his personal grievances or make a fetish of things he didn’t even run for office on.
Praising Trump’s 2nd inaugural address, Noah Rothman writes of Trump setting a tone that could serve his administration well:
It was a workmanlike speech, and that’s quite fitting for an administration charged with securing discrete, tangible objectives. The president can (and did) spend Inauguration Day reveling in his political comeback.
Tomorrow, the work begins.
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