Donald Trump’s inaugural address eight years ago became known as the “American carnage” speech for his invocation of a dystopia of rusted-out factories, poverty and crime. His second struck, in parts, the sunnier tone that had been flagged, promising a new “golden age of America”. But much of the retributive rhetoric was still there, infused with a sense of vindication and personal mission born of his extraordinary political comeback. For his supporters and critics alike, the conclusion must be that the second age of Trump promises to be even more consequential, and disruptive, than the first.
There were moments of lofty rhetoric, when Trump evoked the achievements of American pioneers, from those who opened up the US west to those who took humankind to the stars. He insisted America would reclaim its “rightful place as the greatest, most powerful and respected nation on Earth”.
But he inveighed at the same time against a “radical and corrupt establishment” that had extracted power and wealth from citizens, and a government that could not manage “even a simple crisis”. Opponents will fear his pledge to end the “weaponisation” of a justice system he believes has been manipulated to target him will in reality amount to using the tools of US justice to settle scores with his enemies. And though there was no mention of annexing Canada or seizing Greenland, his declaration that America would take back the Panama Canal will unsettle both allies and adversaries.
From a returning Trump, such warnings have added force. Even though he was constrained in his first term by his ignorance of Washington politics and by the “adults in the room” he appointed as advisers, he became a president of consequence. He reshaped western attitudes to China, accelerated a retreat from multilateralism, and empowered rightwing populist parties across the world.
The man who took the oath of office in the Capitol Rotunda on Monday — where rioters four years ago attempted to block the transfer of power to President Joe Biden — is far more powerful this time. He commands near-total fealty in a Republican party that has a majority in both houses of Congress. His cabinet picks are defined by their loyalty to him. And not just Silicon Valley billionaires but many corporate leaders have been rushing to bend the knee to Trump. A narrow victory in the popular vote is now seen as a change in the political weather.
Trump 2.0, moreover, has a detailed agenda to bring about a sea change in how America is governed, and how it deals with the rest of the world. He made clear that among the 100 or so executive orders he has already started to sign are declarations of national emergencies on issues including immigration and energy, granting him power to rush through new measures.
Trump is stopping short, for now, of imposing long-expected tariffs despite his campaign pledges to introduce a universal levy on global imports and higher rates to Canada, Mexico and China. But Trump’s confirmation that he would end Biden’s Green New Deal and that the US would withdraw from the Paris climate accord are blows to climate action. Some of his other orders are set to be unprecedented, radical, and legally dubious.
There are plenty of reasons, too, for Americans beyond the Maga base to fear for their democracy. Biden rightly warned in his farewell address that the marriage of vast wealth and political influence in the new Trump circle was an “oligarchy . . . taking shape in America”. That Trump and his wife launched memecoins to take advantage of the world’s most speculative market in the days before his inauguration is emblematic of this self-interested shift. The legal world, watchdogs and media groups must pay close heed. Trump’s first term, and its ending, were turbulent enough. But the checks and balances of American power are about to be tested as never before.
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