Inauguration Day 2025. It got off to such a great start. For a couple of hours on Jan. 20, Americans were rewarded with images of what a peaceful transition of power should be. Renewing a tradition that Donald Trump himself broke four years ago, outgoing President Biden welcomed incoming President Trump to the White House, and they rode up to the Capitol together.
In the rotunda, former presidents and vice presidents, Republican and Democrat, together with justices of the Supreme Court, members of Congress, family and honored guests were assembled to watch the simple, but awesome, ceremony where, merely by the taking of an oath of office, power is transferred from one administration to the next.
Up to that point, the message to the world was loud and clear: Yes, we Americans have our political differences, but we all come together today in common cause. One party lost last November, but democracy survives. This started out as a feel-good moment of hope, patriotism and unity.
And then Donald Trump took the podium and turned what should have been a sacred inaugural ceremony into one more MAGA political rally. Monday morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that, unlike Trump’s 2017 “American carnage” speech, this year’s was going to be upbeat and positive, calling for national unity. Fake news. Instead, Trump gave probably the most divisive inaugural speech in history.
Even though he didn’t repeat the phrase “American carnage,” like he did eight years ago, Trump again began by tearing America down with a cascade of lies and untruths: that the economy is in freefall; that millions of criminals are flooding across the border; that America has lost our respect around the world; that our health care system is broken; that schools are teaching kids to hate America; that major cities are plagued with violent crime; that FEMA failed to help North Carolina victims of Hurricane Helene; that America is no longer developing fossil fuels; and more. None of which are true. One quick fact-check, for example: According to CNN, we are now producing more oil than any other country in the history of the world.
Trump’s address was mostly all about himself. He bragged that everything would change overnight now that he was back. “The golden age of America begins right now” were his opening words. In an indirect slap at World War II veterans, Trump claimed that Jan. 20, 2025, would henceforth be remembered as “Liberation Day” and Nov. 5, 2024, will be celebrated as “the greatest and most consequential election” in the history of our country. Not only that, referring to last year’s failed assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., Trump declared that “my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
He then announced a slew of executive orders, many of which he signed before the end of the day: overturning 78 Biden policies; withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement; declaring an emergency at the border; redefining birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment; freezing federal hiring; and pardoning over 1,500 people charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, including those found guilty of assaulting police officers and destroying federal property — people Trump calls “patriots.”
When it was over, many commentators praised the speech as “everything Trump’s MAGA supporters wanted to hear.” That’s true, and that’s what was wrong with it. This was not the time for Trump to further rally his supporters. This was the time for him to reach out and unify the nation. He totally failed to do so. Trump 2.0 is off to an ominous start.
Bill Press is host of “The Bill Press Pod.” He is the author of “From the Left: A Life in the Crossfire.” Follow him on X @BillPressPod and on BlueSky @BillPress.bsky.social.
