Donald Trump’s unusual inaugural address

Trump was far more confrontational than was Bill Clinton in 1993 or George W. Bush in 2001. Both these presidents, born the same year as Trump, started off by paying tribute to their immediate predecessors, as did Barack Obama in 2009 and Trump this year — a tradition started by Jimmy Carter in 1977.

But neither Clinton nor Bush segued to implied criticism.

Clinton hailed the triumph over communism and readily hailed the American economy as “still the world’s strongest.” “Our greatest strength is the power of our ideas, which are still new in many lands.” About the worst he had to say was that “we have drifted.” He made much of the generational aspect of that change of power: The presidents serving from 1961 to 1993 were all part of the G.I. generation, born in the relatively narrow span of years from 1908 to 1924; Clinton was born in 1946, after the end of the war in which they all served in the military. The incoming president hailed, quite presciently, changes in communication and transportation.

George W. Bush in 2001 similarly described “America’s faith in freedom and democracy” as “a seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.” He made frequent reference to the need to improve education, the subject of the bipartisan legislation he worked on with Edward Kennedy and signed a year later, and also argued that “every immigrant, by embracing [American] ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.” While government has “great responsibilities … compassion is the work of a nation, not just a government.” Government was seen as cooperating with people, not oppressing them.

Both Clinton and Bush came to office in times predominantly of peace and prosperity; Obama first took the oath while Americans were fighting in the Middle East and the economy had just undergone a financial crisis — “amidst gathering clouds and raging storms,” as he said. He decried, as he often has since, “petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas,” and there were some implicit but sharp partisan jabs at his predecessor.

More than any of these three predecessors, the 45th president identified an enemy within. “We are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people,” he said. (Footnote: Trump won 4 percent of the vote in the District of Columbia). “For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.” In 1981 Ronald Reagan had famously said that government was the “problem,” not the “solution.” Trump echoed this by saying, “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.”

Much of Trump’s address sounded very much like his speeches at his giant rallies. He also stressed a theme absent from his three predecessors’ first inaugural addresses. “At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction, that a nation exists to serve its citizens.” He made little specific mention of immigration, but yoked that issue to foreign policy when he said, “We’ve defended other nations’ borders while refusing to defend our own.” At the same time, he stressed the inclusiveness of citizenship. “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice,” and, “Whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots.”

A corollary of this assertion of the primacy of citizenship is his endorsement of “the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.” He said he would “reinforce old alliances and form new ones” — a position consistent with his statements that NATO is obsolete but not with the sense he has given some that he would not uphold obligations to NATO allies.

As the speech went on, Trump segued from decrying “Washington” to emphasizing national unity. He even broke into something like the poetic mode featured more often in earlier inaugural addresses. “And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the wind-swept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they will their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty creator. So to all American in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, from ocean to ocean, hear these words. You will never be ignored again.”

Candidate Trump won America from mountain to mountain, from the Appalachian chain to the Rocky Mountains; along the oceans, not so much. It will be interesting to see how many of those who didn’t support him will come to consider themselves included in Trump’s expansive vision of American citizenry.