On the historic day of Friday, January 20, the 45th President Donald Trump was elected into office and delivered his inauguration speech. In his speech, he talked about the peaceful transfer of power and thanked the Obamas for their help. He called his presidential victory a victory for the people, saying that he will act for the benefit of all Americans. Trump talked about how he will help impoverished families, mitigate the loss of manufacturing jobs and bring them back, fix unbalanced education systems and stop the crime, gangs and drugs that hurt the lives of many Americans. He promised to improve infrastructure and trade, lower taxes and enforce immigration laws. He also gave support for law enforcement and military. He says he will put America first, especially when it comes to trade and dealing with United States allies.
Trump is the first Republican President that has stated such a strong position on foreign policy. He stated that he would work with American allies and would make more allies to defeat radical Islamic terrorism.
A majorly important part of his campaign was to speak to the forgotten men and women of America, which for him includes the middle class and factory workers. While he did make parts of his speech acknowledging and again making promises to this group of people, he broadened the scope of his audience too by talking about the whole of the nation.
There has been some criticism of Trump’s speech by both Republicans and Democrats. Republicans, especially those in the establishment or who have supported the establishment during his campaign, find his speech to be too populist for their tastes, even citing parts of his speech as revenge against the establishment for not supporting him during the campaign.
“The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs. And while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. That all changes starting right here and right now because this moment is your moment, it belongs to you,” Trump said.
I think that the establishment was getting caught up in politics and was not connecting with Americans before Trump came. His “populist” politics are why he succeeded in the presidential election, and why he could reach a greater number of voters who are middle-leaning or slightly left independents.
Democrats have seen his speech as nationalist because he mentions patriotism as a vehicle to overcome discrimination.
In his speech, Trump said, “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.”
This part of his speech was condemned by much of the media as being nationalist because he is encouraging Americans to love their country, and talking about using patriotism as a unifying force for the divided factions in the country. The media has spun his intentions into a nationalist agenda because they confuse patriotism with nationalism. Despite these criticisms, I think that he was trying to heal the factions in the country that have become increasingly divided recently. There has been an increase of racial tension in the country over the last few years, and there is a large divide in the country over politics, between supporters of Trump and never-Trumpers, that harkens back to the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
There is also criticism from those who support DREAMers and find the temporary halt of immigration from many countries in the Middle East to be un-American.
Trump, however, seems hesitant to go after families that are here illegally, but have not committed any crimes. I think that the support for these families will keep him from starting a massive deportation effort of these people, though I have no way of knowing how he will handle this issue, of course. I think that he will probably deport or at least bring the law down against those who have committed violent and grave crimes like murder or rape.
Trump has temporarily stopped immigration from seven Middle Eastern countries. Many countries like Germany and France have suffered huge terrorist attacks because of how easily people can travel around Europe. While Trump is trying to prevent such tragedies from occurring in the United States, people want to support refugees from these countries. I find myself supporting his policy, because he has not ended the immigration from these countries, he has just temporarily stopped the immigration for 120 days of people into the country who do not have a green card or who are not already accepted into the country. He is temporarily stopping immigration because he wants to make sure that the government vets all immigrants from the countries which have had trouble with radical Islamic terrorism, and which were marked by Obama’s administration to pose a threat to the United States.
I myself find Trump to be a legitimate president, and I will back any rightly elected President as an American. Trump made a unifying statement in his speech, encouraging people to move past politics and give him the chance to make America great again.
“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20th, 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again,” Trump said.
I thought that his speech had a positive tone for the future of the country, and I wait to see if he will be successful in improving the country. I hope he will stop the crime in the country, especially in the inner cities. He has promised to improve education with policies of school choice that former President George W. Bush and former President Barack Obama have both failed to implement, though they made school choice a goal of their presidencies. I hope that he will weaken radical Islamic terrorism and stop the inflow of drugs into the country. Terrorism is disgusting and un-American on every level, while drugs keep people from living accomplished lives and keep people in bad living conditions. They are too prevalent in the inner cities in the country, which inflates the crime and violence that exists there. Trump has a responsibility to improve the country as President. Hopefully he can accomplish this task with all of these policies that he has promised, and the country waits to see how he delivers.
