Trump’s giving his stump speech.
It’s a fitting end to Joe Biden’s presidency that he now must sit stony-faced through a lecture about how his government inaugurated “a crisis of trust” and “cannot manage a simple crisis” while “stumbling into” disaster after disaster abroad. Maybe he’s part of the “radical establishment” who “extracted wealth” from the country illicitly. Who could say?
Trump’s tone is very subdued, almost as much as in his convention speech.
So far: MAGA speech, somber delivery.
Hello from England!
I recently arrived in Oxford for the start of the new semester. My (conservative) roommate and I kept asking around to see if someone was hosting a “watch party” for the inauguration. Everybody seemed to want to attend one, yet nobody had formally offered to host something. So my roommate and I haphazardly threw a gathering together. We’re being a bit inventive. Someone brought a projector, since we don’t have a television. Everyone has contributed something: Wine, cold beer, chips, and of course, a few MAGA hats.
What’s the vibe for the evening? Well, here’s how one person put it: “This isn’t an inauguration, this is a coronation.”
So. . . stay tuned for my dispatches from Oxford. America First, even in England.
Thus far, Trump framing the new management at DOJ – as Pam Bondi did in her hearings – as an end to weaponization, rather than time for retribution. The proof, of course, will be in actions rather than words if DOJ is able to regain its perspective.
“The golden age of America begins right now.” A good opening line.
The stakes for Trump’s second inaugural address are pretty low. Most Americans have a pretty good idea of what he’s about by now, and the combination of Biden’s last-minute pardons with the incoming flurry of Trump executive orders mean that less attention than usual is apt to be paid to the speech itself.
And now, the Battle Hymn of the Republic, my favorite of all patriotic American songs. And they’re getting into the increasingly martial verses.
Photographers forced to some choices in trying to focus on Trump as he takes the oath without cutting off the head of Barron, who towers over his dad to the point of being off the screen.