President Trump Inaugurated, Acting Quickly On Promises

He highlighted his “Remain in Mexico” policy, pointed to his role as commander-in-chief, disapproved of an electric-vehicle mandate, promised inflation reduction and tariff increases (“‘tariffs’ is the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary” he shared that day), nodded to his Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, and called for recognition of “only two genders” and a “colorblind and merit-based” society. 

In comparison to his first address, “this speech did not evoke the same isolationist themes,” noted New York Times (NYT) correspondent Michael D. Shear. Trump’s assertion that the Gulf of Mexico would become the Gulf of America, eliciting a visible chuckle from Hillary Clinton, was soon confirmed by the Department of the Interior. Shear highlighted Trump’s indication of claiming the Panama Canal and aspirations to claim Mars for America in fulfillment of, as Trump stated, “manifest destiny.”  NYT columnist David Brooks, who has  shifted left since Trump's political ascent, quoted an analogous line, “The spirit of the frontier is written into our hearts,” to draw historical parallels. “You can tell what kind of conservative a person is by discovering what year he wants to go back to,” Brooks reflected, inferring that “[f]or Trump, it seems sometime between 1830 and 1899,” underscoring populist ideals, tariffs, and territorial expansion.

The Wall Street Journal claimed Trump’s 2025 address manifested more “optimistic” rhetoric than his 2017 one, often remembered for the phrase “we will end this American carnage.” Wearing a purple tie—likely a nod to uniting Democrats and Republicans, unlike the red of his first inauguration—Trump pointed to “national unity…returning to America” and hinted at collaboration: “If we work together, there is nothing we cannot do and no dream we cannot achieve.” Inaugural addresses often seek to assuage deep partisan divides. 

Trump emphasized shifts in American ideals by evoking nature metaphors. In 1989, George H.W. Bush (R) did the same, though his predecessor was Republican while Trump’s was Democrat: “For a new breeze is blowing, and a world refreshed by freedom seems reborn; for in man's heart, if not in fact, the day of the dictator is over. The totalitarian era is passing, its old ideas blown away like leaves from an ancient, lifeless tree…” Trump similarly waxed poetic early in his speech: “A tide of change is sweeping the country, sunlight is pouring over the entire world.” 

Before this comment, Trump claimed America was entering a “golden age.” Ronald Reagan’s (R) second address in 1985 also employed a similar term to define his presidency, though compared to Trump's assertive tone, Reagan’s was aspirational: “Let history say of us, ‘These were golden years—when the American Revolution was reborn, when freedom gained new life, when America reached for her best.’” In contrasting Reagan’s 1981 and 1985 addresses, Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter Hedrick Smith noted “[the] sense of urgency that he conveyed in 1981 was replaced by a sense of vindication at what he achieved.” Perhaps a similar parallel can be made regarding Trump concerning vindication. These examples demonstrate Trump's forward-looking rhetoric mirroring past inaugurals.

Nonetheless, Trump’s message brimmed with attacks on the Biden administration and an aggression tarnishing messages of unity. Prior to the speech, The Washington Post wrote, “He [Trump] has hinted that his message to the nation will lay out even bolder—and more divisive— promises to reshape the cultural fabric of the nation.” His conservative agenda marking the speech was emblematic of such promises. Phrases such as “... we will not allow ourselves to be taken advantage of any longer…a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken…we now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home…stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad” explicitly disparaged the Biden administration.  

The subsequent week saw Trump acting on several of his promises, including an executive order restricting birthright citizenship for children of undocumented immigrants, opposing precedent regarding the 14th Amendment and blocked for now by U.S. district Judge John C. Cougenhour. Atlantic writer Adam Serwer called Trump’s attempt as “an early test of the federal judiciary, and of the extent to which Republican-appointed judges and justices are willing to amend the Constitution from the bench just to give Trump what he wants.” The same idea of an “early test” can be applied to the myriad presidential actions over the administration’s first week: Trump controversially pardoned January 6th Capitol rioters (many of whom directly attacked police on the day Trump has referred to as “a day of love”); pushed for the country’s exit from the WHO; signed an executive order to withdraw from the Paris Agreement; took steps to extinguish DEI programs, particularly in the federal government; and is likely to prompt Supreme Court reversals on transgender rights, student loan forgiveness, and environmental policy. 

The beginning of the returning administration has shown that the next four years are likely to see many changes. It will be interesting to see how they affect policies on local, national, and even international levels.