Sunday, January 22, 2017

Observations on Trump Inaugural Address

     January 20th:  For citizens who thought that President Donald Trump would change his spots in delivering an inaugural address were disillusioned   He began by stating that he would “deliver the power to the people” and blamed “the establishment” for the failure of our government.  He did this without clarifying what that means and further it served as an affront to all previous administrations.
2.      He then used the word “carnage” to lump all the hopeless conditions of our society including gangs and drugs.
3.      He further deprecated the previous administrations’ military preparedness and the decrepit infrastructure.
4.                 Declared without reference that the wealth of the middle class had been stolen. He gave no details.
5.         He then called for a new vision of “America First” which would protect our borders as part of “Protectionism”, a nebulous declaration that “America wins again” and that in doing so, we would “Bring back our dreams”.
6.               He inferred that now levels of employment would be reached and America would be “off welfare” because we would “Buy American and Hire American”.  “We would Shine”.
7.               His referenced  international intentions declaring that he would “eradicate Radical Islam”.
8.              He declared his love of “patriotism” and that he was convinced that we in America were “protected by God”. 
9.             He then squeezed in out of the blue, a reference to dedication to “pursuing the mystery of space”, totally out of context with any other statement.  
1          He then closed with an impassioned repeat of the theme of his campaign, that we would together make America great again.
   It was obvious that he wrote the address himself which is unfortunate but explains the ungraciousness and vapidness of it all. The address loudly proclaims that previous leaders did not have the best interest of the nation at heart. Not only did he manage to insult the previous administration and the entire Washington working force, but failed to even thank the previous president for his eight years of service.  He referred to re-uniting the country and it seems that he expects a better economy to do that for there was no other way mentioned. He wants us to believe that patriotism cures prejudice. The old campaign cliches and protectionist rhetoric adds up to tariffs and isolationism as the new international direction.  
      The address set a fearful if not a frankly selfish projection--“America First”, projecting  doubt in the minds or our long-standing allies as to where they might stand in the new Trump world. Finally, I have an abiding distrust in those who tell me I am part of a chosen people protected by God. That is the mark of a demagogue!


        But what did I expect from a walk-on president with thin skin and an aversion to truth?