A New Era Dawns

President Trump took office an hour ago. The inauguration ceremony was memorable; I think it benefited from being brought indoors. Trump’s speech was dynamite: he reprised favorite themes from his rallies, boldly predicted a bright future, and–happily–stayed on script.

We may have more to say before long about the content of the speech, which was bold. Trump threw down one gauntlet after another. But none of it was surprising; these are the policies he ran on. Listening to Trump, I was struck by the fact that pretty much everything he said is popular, reflecting the views of a clear majority of Americans. It makes one wonder how Kamala Harris got so many votes.

The ceremony was inspiring. I hope hundreds of millions of Americans watched it. From my perspective, there were only two glitches. The first was Amy Klobuchar, the first person to take the podium. I couldn’t figure out what she was doing there, but one of my colleagues explained that she was co-chair of the Senate’s inauguration planning committee. Klobuchar talked for so long that I started to fear she was filibustering to delay Trump from taking office.

The second glitch was near the end, when Carrie Underwood came on to sing America the Beautiful. For reasons I don’t know she was to be accompanied by a taped instrumental accompaniment rather than the band that was present in the rotunda. That seems odd, but apparently it was the plan. Someone couldn’t get the tape to work. There were a couple awkward minutes of silence, before Underwood finally took matters into her own hands. She didn’t need the band, and sang the song beautifully, a cappella.

It was a great day, and it isn’t over yet. Now that he has been inaugurated, Trump can start signing orders. I understand that he has a desk set up in the Capital One Arena, where he will conduct the signings publicly. I don’t know whether that will be televised.

We will have more to say as the days go by, but for now let’s just bask in the glory of the passing of the Biden administration, and the dawning of what promises to be a new and better day.

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