Out of the Box
On Day One, Trump swings for the fences
President Donald J. Trump was inaugurated yesterday, and his subsequent address to the American people was a remarkable departure from the presidential norm. As NRO’s Noah Rothman notes, Trump’s rhetoric concerning the golden age upon which America is embarking was somewhat repetitive but otherwise his speech fell into two parts. First came a stinging critique, delivered with Trumpian bluntness, on the failures and follies of the Biden years. Then followed the to-do list, and it was extensive.
Part one was pretty rough, considering that former president Biden and former vice president Harris were sitting right there on the dais. (Harris looked as though she’d swallowed a bug.) But Trump’s indictment, though harsh, was just. The Biden presidency must be judged a failure, primarily because it failed—or refused—to engage with the American people on the issues that most concerned them. Their complaints were waved away. Bidenomics was a roaring success! Inflation was transitory! The border was secure! Crime was going down! The adults were finally in charge! Shut up and take a seat, America. Can’t you see that we’re busy with CRT and DEI and transgender rights?
As for part two of Trump’s speech, one thing jumped out at me right away. The President devoted very little time to foreign policy. Conspicuously absent was any mention of Ukraine, Russia, or the acquisition of Greenland. Nothing much was heard of the Mideast crisis; Trump merely congratulated himself for engineering a deal for the release of the hostages held by Hamas—a deal problematical in its details and more likely than not to collapse. Nor does it seem likely that the President’s earlier promises to end the Russo-Ukraine War on day one—or in a timely manner—are likely to be fulfilled.
There was some frivolity. The President pledged to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. (It occurred to me that the difference could be split, the western part to keep its present name and the eastern part to be retitled. That’s what Bismarck or Kissinger would have proposed.) Trump also promised to reverse the renaming of Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the highest mountain in North America, which in 2015 was renamed Mount Denali. (Not being a native of either Alaska or Ohio, I’m agnostic on that one.)
More seriously, the President came down hard on border security and illegal immigration, saying that he’d declare a national emergency, order federal troops to the southern border, and commencing large-scale deportations, beginning with criminal illegal aliens. Trump also said that the Mexican drug cartels will be designated as foreign terrorist organizations. That is what’s known as a full-court press.
On energy policy, Trump pledged to reverse then Biden Administration’s green agenda in toto. “Drill, baby drill!” he trumpeted, saying that America vast reserves of oil and natural gas will be exploited to make the country energy independent. He also launched a broadside against wind power and Biden’s electric vehicle mandate.
DEI and gender ideology also took a hit. The President proclaimed the end of DEI and CRT indoctrination in the federal government, specifically mentioning the US armed forces. And he added that he’d be signing an executive order stipulating that going forward, the US federal government would recognize only two genders: male and female—with particular reference to women’s sports.
Nor did Trump lose time in implementing these pledges. Before Inauguration Day had run its course, he had signed some two hundred executive orders and presidential memorandums giving effect to them. Most controversially, he issued what amounted to a blanket pardon for those convicted in connection with the January 6 Capitol Hill riot and signed an executive order ending birthright citizenship. The latter was met with an immediate lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and is likely to be quashed by the courts on Fourteenth Amendment grounds.
Many of these executive orders were signed at the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, with a bevy of reporters in attendance. As Trump affixed his signature to one document after another, he conducted an impromptu press conference. It was a remarkable performance, especially in contrast to his predecessor’s inability to engage with the press.
Also that evening, the Senate confirmed the first of Trump’s cabinet nominees, Marco Rubio, as Secretary of State, and passed the Laken Riley Act, named for the nursing student who was murdered by an illegal immigrant. It requires Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain illegal immigrants who are charged, arrested or convicted for committing “burglary, theft, larceny, or shoplifting.” Twelve Democratic senators joined the Republican majority in voting for the bill, which had already cleared the House of Representatives. After differences between the House and Senate versions are reconciled, the bill is expected to reach President Trump’s desk later this week.
All in all, Trump’s first half-day as president gave a good demonstration of energy in the executive. It was obvious that he and his team had carefully prepared a shock-and-awe overture to his presidency. Whether the momentum can be sustained is another question. Some of his measures will generate pushback, others may prove hard to implement, and still others may take time to show results. It’s one thing to proclaim the banishment of DEI from the federal bureaucracy but another thing to root it out. If President Trump’s supporters are wise, they’ll temper their expectations. There’s a long way to go—and a short time to complete the course.
So much for Day One of the most amazing political comeback in American history. Trump himself has described it as a “landslide,” the greatest victory ever, and proof that he has a mandate from the American people to implement his policies. This is hyperbole, though the President may be excused for it. What he and his team accomplished was indeed a triumph.
But though Trump became the first Republican in many years to win the popular vote, he fell short of an absolute majority. Though he swept all seven swing states, his margins of victory were modest. His majority in the Electoral College, though decisive, was not crushing. The best to be said is that given the country’s sharp, nearly fifty-fifty political polarization, Donald Trump scored a clear and convincing victory. But though Republicans control the House and Senate, their majorities, particularly in the House, are precarious.
A lot depends on how Trump and his administration perform over the next eighteen months—and that remains to be seen.
Delighted that Biden pardoned all those lawless people who attacked our system.
Removes the temptation for Repubs to do a witch hunt and permanently puts an asterisk behind the names of those outlaws.
Allows all of us to focus on the future.