Analysis Six quick takes on President Trump’s speech
- Thank you for making your speech short. Really, the days when folks enjoyed hearing long orations have passed.
- I am glad you thanked the Obamas for being “magnificent” to you during the transition. Offering “gracious aid” to an incoming president is part of the orderly transfer of government. I hope you’ll be as helpful when your time to depart comes.
- These statements are true and I hope you work with Congress to do something about it: “Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families and good jobs for themselves … But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists.”
- What in God’s green earth did you mean by this exclamation? “We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our product, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.” Ever heard of Adam Smith or taken Economics 101? Free trade is good; protectionism is bad. And the facts of are that nobody stole anything from us. Companies move overseas because they find it advantageous. Toyota and Honda came to America because they found it advantageous.
- Sir, do you imagine yourself an almighty despot? What else am I to think when I hear you declare” “The crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.” Five bucks says that in three years, we will still have junkies and organized crime. They both have been around for a century, and are driven by a complex amalgam of socioeconomic factors.
- This is a good sentiment: “We are one nation, and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams, and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home and one glorious destiny. The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans.” but are you truly prepared to govern in a less divisive way?
Image by White House photographer – Official White House Facebook page, public domain.
