It was very early Tuesday morning when I finally watched the live presentation of President-elect Trump’s inaugural speech. Later in the day, he signed, as he promised, dozens of executive orders.
My initial impression of his speech was that it sounded more like a State of the Nation, rather than the inspirational speeches usually given by past presidents. There were specific legislative and executive proposals that President Trump promised to implement upon his election.
I could not help but compare President Trump’s inaugural ceremony to that of past presidents. The most memorable inauguration speeches were those that sought to inspire, rather than a mere enumeration. It seems that Trump’s way of inspiring was simply by repeating his theme that America will be great again. He repeated this promise using different variations, like saying that his term would be the start of a Golden Age for America.
There was no call for people to sacrifice for the sake of humanity, like the message of John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.” The program itself had no part that would make the spirit soar, like Barack Obama’s choice of a poet laureate. The best that Trump could come up with was the song, “America the Beautiful” by the singer Carrie Underwood. I still remember when Aretha Franklin sang at the Obama inauguration. It seems that the overwhelming majority of singers and artists do not support Trump.
I wonder if it was fitting that Trump’s vision of a grand inauguration was forced to move from the outdoors to an indoor venue with a capacity of 750 people. The reason was that there was extremely cold weather on the morning of his inauguration.
In that cramped room, President Biden and Vice President Harris were seated right behind Trump who did not mince words in criticizing the past administration. One could see the pained expressions on the faces of Biden and Harris. The newscasters reported that when Trump announced that he was renaming the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of America, Hillary Clinton, who was also in the audience, was observed laughing out loud.
Trump claimed that the Gulf of Mexico belonged to America in spite of the fact that there were many islands in this body of water and several countries around its border.
When I listened to Trump claiming that the Gulf of Mexico and the Panama Canal belonged to the United States, I could not help but compare this to Xi Jinping’s claim that the whole South China Sea belongs to China. Both are ridiculous claims. However, these are being taken seriously because the ones making these claims are both superpowers.
Michelle Obama was criticized by some people for refusing to attend the inauguration ceremony. However, these critics seem to have conveniently forgotten that Trump refused to attend Biden’s inauguration ceremony four years ago.
Right after the ceremony, Trump went to the White House and started signing the Executive Orders as promised. In the United States, the most controversial EOs were the one when he pardoned more than 1,500 persons who were accused of causing a riot and instigating violence during the Jan. 6, 2001 proclamation of Biden as the newly elected president. He also signed a number of EOs drastically reducing the path towards immigration. Another controversial one was the banning of the birthright provision which states that anyone born in the United States is automatically a US citizen. This specific EO will definitely be contested in the courts as being unconstitutional.
From a world viewpoint, I consider the most controversial EO was the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Treaty, which is the major organization aimed at reducing the global warming temperature. This will seriously impair the ability of the United Nations to meet its target of reducing global warming in the near future. The only ones that would be happy about this withdrawal are the fossil fuel producers who have been lobbying very hard against limiting their production and shifting towards renewable energy.
Trump has also announced that he intends to allow the exploitation of crude oil in the United States, including production in areas like Alaska and offshore areas which have been banned in previous administrations like Biden’s and Obama’s because of the efforts of environmentalists.
Trump also signed an EO that the United States will withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO). His new Secretary of Health has publicly stated that he does not believe in the effectivity of vaccines. Again, the withdrawal from the WHO will make it difficult for global cooperation to combat future pandemics.
In reclaiming the Panama Canal, Trump talked about the Manifest Destiny of the United States. This was a principle once used by the United States to assert its supremacy in North and South America, leading to American military interventions in such countries as Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada.
After listening to Trump, I am beginning to believe that he and Xi Jinping share a common vision in that a superpower like the United States and China can behave like modern-day imperialists.