After a harsh election season, many people were looking forward to a unifying speech from President Donald Trump at his inauguration on Jan. 20.
What President Trump did give was a speech similar to those his supporters would have heard during election season. In fact, Trump’s speech reflected the same themes he would have addressed during his campaign in states heavily affected by globalization, like Pennsylvania or Michigan.
Seemingly riding off the “drain the swamp” rhetoric that he used during the campaign season, President Trump said, “What truly matters is not which party controls our government but whether our government is controlled by the people.”
Dr. Amy Edmonds, professor of political science, said Trump’s speech – while encouraging to his supporters – “revealed a dark view of America. He depicted an America where ‘factories closed,’ where crime and gangs are rampant and where the education system leaves students ‘deprived of all knowledge.’”
According to President Trump, these issues are caused by the “elites” in Washington, who have “reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.”
This rhetoric is vaguely similar to that of President Reagan’s inaugural speech.
“Similarly to Reagan, Trump focused on the government as the source of America’s problems,” Edmonds said. “However, Reagan insisted it was the goodness and creativity of ordinary Americans who were the key to American renewal, if only government growth wouldn’t stifle them.”
“In contrast to Reagan,” Edmonds continued, “Trump seems to suggest that he, as the voice and representative of the people, is the leader who will save America by ensuring the government focuses on the Americans who have been ‘left behind.’”
The driving point of his speech was to drill in the slogan that will be his administration’s theme for the next four years: America first. America will be first economically and internationally through smart trade deals and a hard-line plan to “destroy” radical Islam.