A great day

A few notes on the inauguration of President Trump as the forty-seventh President of the United States. The event and related activities through the day are so rich in meaning and significance they deserve much more than the initial thoughts I can offer here.

• The setting of the inauguration in the Capitol Rotunda was overpowering. Space was tight, but perhaps this is the way it should be done or will have to be done in the future. I was a little nervous to see the line of presidential successors on hand. For Trump’s second inauguration, no designated survivor was selected.

• Mrs. Trump was beautiful, of course, and outfitted magnificently. At age 54, she should be able to go back to work as a fashion model if she were to choose so. Her outfit emitted the royal element inside an American success story.

• The attendance of Presidents Clinton, (GW) Bush, Obama, and Biden emphasized constitutional elements of the transition of power. Have so many former presidents ever attended a presidential inauguration? I don’t know.

• Justice Kavanaugh administered the oath to Vice President Vance. Mrs. Vance served for a year as a law clerk to then Judge Kavanaugh on the D.C. Circuit and before going on to clerk for Chief Justice Roberts for a year. The Vances have a lot of brainpower in the family.

• Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath to President Trump. The chief rushed it a bit, not leaving Mrs. Trump the time to join and have President Trump place his hand on the Bible she held. This triggered the first wave of media madness that picked up where it last left off if it ever left off. What tiresome, shameless, and stupid twits they are.

• Choosing from an overabundant wealth of material, the Washington Free Beacon compiled the video below to illustrate the point.

• The White House has posted the text Trump’s inaugural speech. I have posted the video at the bottom.

• The opening of Trump’s speech implicitly condemned Biden’s term in office as a time of weakness, humiliation, catastrophe, and decline. If Biden were in possession of his faculties, I would almost have felt sorry for him.

• The theme of Trump’s speech: to the maximum extent possible, what Biden has done will be undone. I will undo it.

• With Obama in attendance, Trump’s speech marked the end of the Obama era. That’s a wrap.

• This was biting:

Our country can no longer deliver basic services in times of emergency, as recently shown by the wonderful people of North Carolina — who have been treated so badly — (applause) — and other states who are still suffering from a hurricane that took place many months ago or, more recently, Los Angeles, where we are watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense. They’re raging through the houses and communities, even affecting some of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals in our country — some of whom are sitting here right now. They don’t have a home any longer. That’s interesting. But we can’t let this happen. Everyone is unable to do anything about it. That’s going to change.

The promised change injected a note of optimism.

• “President Biden,” he was talking about you: “My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and, indeed, their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over.” As I say, if Biden were in possession of his faculties, I would almost have felt sorry for him.

• This I believe:

This week, I will also end the government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life. (Applause.) We will forge a society that is colorblind and merit-based. As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female. This week, I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate with full back pay. And I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty. It’s going to end immediately. Our armed forces will be freed to focus on their sole mission: defeating America’s enemies.

It was good of him to identify the sexes for the benefit of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and the other Democrats in attendance.

• President Trump, deliver us from evil: “For American citizens, January 20th, 2025, is Liberation Day.”

• Carrie Underwood was to sing “America the Beautiful” with some accompaniment. The accompaniment failed. After an uncomfortable delay, she declared she would “just sing it” — a capella — and invited the audience to join her. “You know the words, help me out here.” Unforgettable.

• Speaking of “Liberation….” Yesterday evening in the the Oval Office, President Trump pardoned some 1500 Jan. 6 defendants. The White House has posted the text of the pardon and commutations here. Some discrimination was warranted.

• All in all, a great day for America.

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