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Americans have a taste for drama. With every change of political party the Manichean struggle between the forces of light and those of darkness appears ready for the final confrontation. And yet it is a society in which the forces of light are also dark, and those of darkness shed light. The Manichean quality of American discourse is most sharply drawn at those moments of political transition from one aggregation of forces to the other. And yet, both oppositional forces--as much as they despise the other--tend to draw from the same well, and feed on the same founding vision--even if to opposite effect. And that well, that source--the Jewish and Christian Bibles (I refrain from the more judgemental appellations Old and New Testaments)--remains very much source of guidance in times of trouble in the United States. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the inaugural speeches of Presidents, especially those who appear to incarnate a clear triumph of one vision (if only narrowly triumphant as is customary within the legal structures under which American politics is managed) over the other.
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Americans have a taste for drama. With every change of political party the Manichean struggle between the forces of light and those of darkness appears ready for the final confrontation. And yet it is a society in which the forces of light are also dark, and those of darkness shed light. The Manichean quality of American discourse is most sharply drawn at those moments of political transition from one aggregation of forces to the other. And yet, both oppositional forces--as much as they despise the other--tend to draw from the same well, and feed on the same founding vision--even if to opposite effect. And that well, that source--the Jewish and Christian Bibles (I refrain from the more judgemental appellations Old and New Testaments)--remains very much source of guidance in times of trouble in the United States. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the inaugural speeches of Presidents, especially those who appear to incarnate a clear triumph of one vision (if only narrowly triumphant as is customary within the legal structures under which American politics is managed) over the other.
Eight years ago, in similar circumstances of triumph and chagrin, I noted
Recourse to its insights, molded to the tastes of the speaker, have been a hallmark of political speech since the founding of the Republic, especially on the cusp of revolutionary times. And indeed, the manipulative symbolism that marked the event—the focus on Lincoln as multilayered mother to her offspring birthed by and now liberated from her emancipatory womb, and as great protector of the family in time of crisis threatening the foundation of the family (the American Republic)—was much in evidence, from the use of the Lincoln Bible to the rhetorical form of the construction of the speech. The parallels between 1861 and 2009, and the line from the mother of emancipation to the graduation ceremony of his offspring, now come to power, was inescapable.
And so it was with a great deal of interest that, in 2009, I awaited the selection
of the Biblical insight that would mark the initial phase of
the presidency of its 44th holder. Mr. Obama chose I Corinthians 13:8-13 International Standard Version). As I looked back on my analysis of that speech--Democracy Part XIV: “For Now We See Through A Glass, Darkly; But Then Face to Face”; On President Obama's Inauguration Speech--I was struck by the way that this initial speech accurately pointed to the fundamental vision and principles of governance that were to mark the entirety of Mr. Obama's presidency.
President Lincoln had a preference for the Evangelists. President Obama chose Paul, that great Jewish architect of Christianity. That choice—a reverie on the virtues of the charity and love of a man (and I mean to use this word in its fully gendered sense) for his family and of this nation for its global charge—suggest the character of an administration bent on unity and dominance within a values structures it, like its predecessor, will hold out to the world as the universal foundation of political, moral and social governance. Its essence is Platonic, and consciously so. For ideologues on the left and right, there is much that serves as a warning to a complacency grounded in misguided senses of victory or defeat. (On President Obama's Inauguration Speech)
It was thus with equal interest, and in similar circumstances, in 2017, that I awaited Mr. Trump's Inaugural speech and his selection of the Biblical insight that would mark the presidency of its 45th holder. That selection was announced in the course of President Trump's inaugural address. See Donald J. Trump, Inaugural Address, January 20, 2017. President Trump chose the Prophets and Psalms. and specifically Isaiah 42:6, Jeremiah 31:31-33, and Psalm 133.
This post reflects on the meaning and fundamental premises reflected in Mr. Trump's Inaugural Speech. It is best read against that of the 44th President, a man who is some ways represents his inverse twin. The full text of Mr. Trump's Speech then follows. For more conventional consensus analysis see HERE.
The speech does not start, as is customary, with a polite nod in the
direction of the predecessor president, and some expression of gratitude to the masses who made his presence on that dais possible. Rather, Mr. Trump starts with a rhetorical twister that inverts the classic opening of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one that has him emerging onto the inaugural dais from the wreckage of a twister to the destruction of a Kansas prairie town counting on him top lead in its reconstruction (but with no allusion, however hard his political enemies might be tempted to try, to Reconstruction).
We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people. Together we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come. We will face challenges. We will confront hardships, but we will get the job done. (Trump, Inaugural Address)
It is only at this point, stepping out of the conveyance that brought him from his "Oz" to the twister ravaged "Kansas" that is this nation, that he pauses and acknowledges the former holder of the office into which he has now come--but acknowledges that exiting office holder and his spouse only "for their gracious aid throughout this transition." (Trump, Inaugural Address)
The niceties accomplished, it is to the business of the exceptionalism of the transition from the 44th to the 45th Presidency, like that which the transition from the 43rd to the 44th Presidency also portended, that Mr. Trump then turns.
Today's ceremony, however, has very special meaning because, today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people.
That business, then, involves power (however one conceives it), and the exceptional character of that transfer. That exceptional character is marked by the devolution of power from those institutions into which it had been delegated and back to the popular sovereigns from which it derived. That exceptional transfer is necessitated because the democratic institutions into which it had been delegated had become illegitimate, and thus illegitimate, no longer the authentic vehicles through which popular power could be authoritatively exercised.
For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have born the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs and, while they celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. (Trump, Inaugural Address)
Popular power must be wrested from the hands of those corrupted institutions and delivered back to the masses. And that was accomplished through the exercise of those institutional mechanics that ironically enough were overseen and guarded by the very institutions against which they were used. But there is ambiguity in this language. It is both the language of the popular revolution that produced the Untied States but more recently the language at the heart of the anti-Republican ideologues on the hard left in the West and that has used the very language of popular power embraced by Mr. Trump as the core ideological driver of the mass movements that have brought Marxist Leninist regimes to Venezuela.
¿Qué es exactamente el poder popular? Es el poder que emana del pueblo, pero no esa delegación simbólica, aguada y desabrida, de la democracia representativa, donde cada cierto período se cumple con el rito de elegir a supuestos representantes de la voluntad popular. No, en absoluto. (Marcelo Colussi, ¿Qué es el poder popular?) (What exactly if popular power? It is the power that proceeds form the people, but without the symbolic delegation, watered down and lackluster, of representative democracy, in which periodically is fulfilled the symbolic ritual of electing supposed representatives of the popular will. Not at all.")
There can be no doubt of Mr. Trump's loyalty to the founding ideology of our Republic; yet that fidelity must be understood as grounded in the Republicanism of our Founders, a Republicanism that emphatically rejected Democratic democracy as its foundational core.
It then follows that "this moment is your moment. It belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration, and this, the United States of America, is your country. " (Trump, Inaugural Address). Mr. Trump suggests what it is he believes popular power wants:
Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are just and reasonable demands of righteous people and a righteous public, but for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists.
Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, rusted out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation, an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge and 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.
* * *
We've defended other nations' borders, while refusing to defend our own, and spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas, while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We've made other countries rich while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world. (Trump, Inaugural Address)
And here lies the strongest contrast with the 44th President. Mr. Obama looked outward and sought to universalize the American reality--to create a global normativity around American principles, to merge the Republic with the world it was to lead. extend our Republic (Democracy Part XIV). Mr. Trump has shifted the national gaze; the 45th Presidency will be marked by a popular power turned inward, a return in time, and a return to a community militant.
First the 45th President sees in popular power a strong turn inward.
From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America first. America first. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. (Trump, Inaugural Address).
And for this effort borders must be erected. These barriers must be tangible and intangible--as much to keep wealth in as to avoid the leakage of wealth production out. "Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength."(Trump, Inaugural Address). Here is both the heart of the vision of the 45th Presidency and its most clear expression of inversion of that of the 44th Presidency. The view expressed both the conceptual heart of popular power and a rejection of the systems constructed by the leaders of the Republic after 1945 to set in motion the institutions and principles that produced the structures that gave our Republic the vanguard position int he establishment of global order. And yet The 45th President's opponents have little standing to challenge this betrayal of the American project of the last half century; they had been the chief architects of its delegitimization over the last quarter century as well as its half hearted guardians.
How is this to be effectuated? The essence is a rejection of the concept of a single global market within which all disputes and all interactions might be managed and conflict mediated, for segmented regional and national markets--each of which will constitute its own complete system and all of which will interact only in the presence of mutual advantage--or the coercion of power. Ironically this sounds much like the notion of socialist regional trade that was the foundation of the Chavez-Castro axis through the Bolivarian Alliance (discussed here). Yet a clear difference might lie in the role of private enterprises, which might be delegated the laboring oar in organic ¡evolution of segmented markets within a "prosperity and strength through protection" regime in the U.S. It certainly cannot mean a rejection of capitalism, even if it rejects the notion of a global market in favor of barrier dependent segmented arenas of governmentally protected (rather than managed) economic activity. In any case, the Inaugural Address makes clear that markets, state and popular power manifested through states will now share a common identity and a singular regulatory environment.
The fundamental rupture implied is inescapable and an indication of another of the walls, borders and barriers that will be the hallmark of the 45th Presidency, in this case the barrier that is to be established between the old covenant, represented by elite systems making that culminated in the 44th Presidency and the prosperity and strength through patriotic nationalism that is the hallmark of the new. The 45th President declares: "From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land." There is a Biblical allusion buried in this section of the address, and one that it pays not to ignore. Here is the language of a new covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31:31-33,
How is this to be effectuated? The essence is a rejection of the concept of a single global market within which all disputes and all interactions might be managed and conflict mediated, for segmented regional and national markets--each of which will constitute its own complete system and all of which will interact only in the presence of mutual advantage--or the coercion of power. Ironically this sounds much like the notion of socialist regional trade that was the foundation of the Chavez-Castro axis through the Bolivarian Alliance (discussed here). Yet a clear difference might lie in the role of private enterprises, which might be delegated the laboring oar in organic ¡evolution of segmented markets within a "prosperity and strength through protection" regime in the U.S. It certainly cannot mean a rejection of capitalism, even if it rejects the notion of a global market in favor of barrier dependent segmented arenas of governmentally protected (rather than managed) economic activity. In any case, the Inaugural Address makes clear that markets, state and popular power manifested through states will now share a common identity and a singular regulatory environment.
The fundamental rupture implied is inescapable and an indication of another of the walls, borders and barriers that will be the hallmark of the 45th Presidency, in this case the barrier that is to be established between the old covenant, represented by elite systems making that culminated in the 44th Presidency and the prosperity and strength through patriotic nationalism that is the hallmark of the new. The 45th President declares: "From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land." There is a Biblical allusion buried in this section of the address, and one that it pays not to ignore. Here is the language of a new covenant, promised in Jeremiah 31:31-33,
31Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; my covenant which they broke, although I was a husband unto them, says the LORD: 33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
The allusion to a fundamental rejection of one covenant to embrace another ought not to be ignored. It is an allusion to the covenantal language realized (for believers) through the events related in the Gospels (Hebrews 8:1-13; 2 Corinthians 3:6 ("Who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.")). This is a vision that is at once universal in the sense that the new covenant may be available to all who embed themselves within it, but also one that serves as a most powerful barrier--a barrier between the old covenant that marked the elite projects of the post 1945 period and of the globalization that it created, from the new covenant whose principles may be discerned in the declaration of the 45th President, but whose application remains for the future, grounded only in the three principles of popular power embraced by the 45th President.
Yet that inversion of vision--from outward and expansionist to inward and protectionist is meant to lead to substantially the same goal within the global stage. But method and principle are radically different and more pointed in a statist sort of way. "We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example. We will shine for everyone to follow. We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth."(Trump, Inaugural Address). The United States will not merge into the world; instead, the United States will become the model toward which the rest of the world will turn. It is here that another Biblical allusion may be discerned. The invocation is not to the Psalms, but to the Prophets--the allusion is to Isaiah 42:6 ("I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and have taken hold of thy hand, and kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations"). This notion--of a broken people being called home to righteousness, being called home to Zion, resonates throughout the address. Popular power, like the Children of Israel in the desert beyond bondage in Egypt, will return to the city on a hill (Psalm 48:1), the City of David (2 Samuel 5:7), the spiritual and future eternal Jerusalem (Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 33:20), from which foreign enemies will flee in terror (Psalm 48:4-8).
Yet that inversion of vision--from outward and expansionist to inward and protectionist is meant to lead to substantially the same goal within the global stage. But method and principle are radically different and more pointed in a statist sort of way. "We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example. We will shine for everyone to follow. We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth."(Trump, Inaugural Address). The United States will not merge into the world; instead, the United States will become the model toward which the rest of the world will turn. It is here that another Biblical allusion may be discerned. The invocation is not to the Psalms, but to the Prophets--the allusion is to Isaiah 42:6 ("I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and have taken hold of thy hand, and kept thee, and set thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations"). This notion--of a broken people being called home to righteousness, being called home to Zion, resonates throughout the address. Popular power, like the Children of Israel in the desert beyond bondage in Egypt, will return to the city on a hill (Psalm 48:1), the City of David (2 Samuel 5:7), the spiritual and future eternal Jerusalem (Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 33:20), from which foreign enemies will flee in terror (Psalm 48:4-8).
Second, the 45th President sees in popular power a strong returning to a time and place before the advent of the stresses that brought him to power.
Together we will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And, yes, together, we will make America great again. Thank you. God bless you and god bless America. Thank you. God bless America." (Trump, Inaugural Address)
The emphasis, like a relentless drumbeat, the endpoint of every statement, the focal sound and symbol and the pointer to the way forward is one that points back--"again". . . "again"... "again" . . . ."again" . . . . "again." But this pointer has no center and no object. If it references the time immediately after 1945 then its roadmap is a betrayal of the fundamental principles that brought the Republic greatness then--through the structures of globalization. If it references the periods before then it excludes increasingly large segments of the masses from a share in greatness. But it is not meant to convey that sense of greatness within time. Rather it is meant to point to greatness out of time--that is to a set of conditions of existence, of our understanding of the conditions of our utopia-- but adjusted to the sensibilities of popular power in this time. There is nothing odd about this; the 45th President is neither the first nor the last to draw on this invocation of utopia out of time and to seek to realize its promise in contemporary times. But like those before it, and surely like those that will come after, the promise will be chocked on the personal agendas and factional competitions of those creatures, of every political stripe, that tend to make up the driving forces of the Republic.
Third, the 45th President sees in popular power a strong turn toward patriotic community marked off from the rest of the world.
The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans. . . . At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America and, through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice. (Trump, Inaugural Address)
Within this set of broad patriotic principles lie the seeds of implementation: "We will follow two simple rules: buy American and hire American. We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first." (Trump, Inaugural Address). Allegiance now has a specific ste of concrete manifestations; and global intercourse a very specific perspective. With the understanding that it will be difficult to untangle the complex global web of production that it has taken three quarters of a century to create, the process of unraveling now appears visible. Remarkably it appears to embrace the strongly held perspectives of poor third world countries of half a century ago and echos the economic line of the Marxist Cuban state to the extent it seeks to find in programs of income substitution and macro economic self sufficiency some of sort national wealth maximization and global autonomy. Indeed, to some extent it reflects what at the time had been the pointedly anti-American slap by the U.: General Assembly in the form of its Declaration on the Right to Development A/RES/41/128 (4 Dec. 1986).
And it is through this popular democratic patriotism that one gets a sense of the answer to the question that has been left dangling during the course of the address: But how is that exceptional reinvigoration of popular power to be accomplished? That is, if "January 20th, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again" (Trump, Inaugural Address), then how is that to be accomplished?
The answer lies within the allusion to Psalm 133 (uncited) at the heart of the 45th President's address:
The bible tells us how good and pleasant it is when god's people live together in unity. We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable. There should be no fear. We are protected and we will always be protected. We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement and most importantly, we will be protected by God.
Psalm 133 is usually read as a longing for unity (conventional exegesis here). But a deeper analysis reveals the communal character of that unity, and the hierarchy that is therein implied. Indeed, Psalm 133 is remarkable for its implication not merely of unity,. but of the hierarchy inherent in that unity--and of the trickle down effects of power and the dependence of the people on superiors for reward.
Psalm 133 (New International Version): (1) How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! (2) It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. (3) It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore. The Latin Vulgate (numbered Psalm 132 drives home the point: [1] Ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum, habitare fratres in unum! [2] Sicut unguentum in capite, quod descendit in barbam, barbam Aaron, quod descendit in oram vestimenti ejus; [3] sicut ros Hermon, qui descendit in montem Sion. Quoniam illic mandavit Dominus benedictionem, et vitam usque in saeculum.
Two principle insights can be drawn from the allusions in Psalm 133. The first goes to the construction of community; the second goes to the hierarchy within which the community or organized. The key word Psalm 133(1), one echoed by the 45th President in his address, are the words "God's people", sometimes translated as brethren (King James Bible) or kindred (fratres). This draws a sharp line--another border--between those individuals who may be counted among the people, and those who are strangers to the community of the faithful. It extends and deepens the themes of borders, of the inward turn and of the theme of "return" with which the address is infused.This border--between the people with respect to which the blessings of the American democracy are available, and others echoes the line of Mao Zedong in defending the People's Democratic Dictatorship in 1949:
Who are the people? At the present stage in China, they are the working class, the peasantry, the urban petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie. These classes, led by the working class and the Communist Party, unite to form their own state and elect their own government; they enforce their dictatorship over the running dogs of imperialism -- the landlord class and bureaucrat-bourgeoisie, as well as the representatives of those classes, the Kuomintang reactionaries and their accomplices -- suppress them, allow them only to behave themselves and not to be unruly in word or deed. If they speak or act in an unruly way, they will be promptly stopped and punished. Democracy is practiced within the ranks of the people, who enjoy the rights of freedom of speech, assembly, association and so on. The right to vote belongs only to the people, not to the reactionaries. The combination of these two aspects, democracy for the people and dictatorship over the reactionaries, is the people's democratic dictatorship. (Mao Zedong, "On the People's Democratic Dictatorship," In Commemoration of the Twenty-eighth Anniversary of the Communist Party of China (June 30, 1949)).
Surely the 45th President and the founding leader of the Chinese Communist Party have little in common. Their ideologies are quite distinct and Mr. Mao's political principles remain completely inconsistent with the democratic principles in which the United States is founded and which ground the political philosophy of the 45th President and his team. Yet the impulse to frame popular democracy by drawing lines appears to be trans cultural. In the case of the 45th President, the line is drawn between strangers and God's people. The exact boundary and the meaning of that demarcation remains to be fleshed out. One imagines that it is meant to draw a line between Americans and Americans the reference is likely to citizens (and perhaps lawful residents) (e.g., in the address: (1) "The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country" (2) "At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction that a nation exists to serve its citizens" (3) "but for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists"). Most telling is the definition of the "we" that constitutes popular power--"We, the citizens of America" (Trump, Inaugural Address).
Second the parallelism of the imagery of the bounty of unity among the community signals both the hierarchy inherent in it and the connection between obedience and reward. That downward flow is reflected in the two liquids that serve as the central imagery of the Psalm. The first is oil (Psalm 133:2), the second water (Psalm 133:3). The first is the highly symbolic means of anointing both priest and king--of setting someone over "God's people" united. The second suggests that goodness and bounty, like the life giving waters from Mt. Herman, must flow downward from a great height--and indeed that such bounty may only be produced at that great height and then trickle down to the people. In both cases, legitimacy and bounty appear to have their source in the head and then running down to those lower places where the people bend down to grasp the robe of the priest or the king, or to quench their thirst in the sustaining waters of the Jordan river.
How might this be manifested in the address of the 45th President? First is in the allusions to leadership throughout the address. The second is in the protective role that the leader will undertake and from which will flow the bounty of a protectionist state. "I will fight for you with every breath in my body and I will never, ever let you down". . . . "The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans". . . "You will never be ignored again. Your voice, your hopes and your dreams will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way. " (Trump, Inaugural Address). The last is perhaps the most telling. Popular power must be manifested somehow. And it appears that this somehow will have to be through the institutions of state that, in the hands of the new leadership will be transformed. But popular power must be interpreted and channeled--and it appears that this interpretation and channeling will be undertaken from the greatest heights of institutional power within the body of the 45th President now transformed into the incarnation of the popular will--a transformation that was, ironically enough, equally evident in the 44th President's initial vision.
How might this be manifested in the address of the 45th President? First is in the allusions to leadership throughout the address. The second is in the protective role that the leader will undertake and from which will flow the bounty of a protectionist state. "I will fight for you with every breath in my body and I will never, ever let you down". . . . "The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans". . . "You will never be ignored again. Your voice, your hopes and your dreams will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way. " (Trump, Inaugural Address). The last is perhaps the most telling. Popular power must be manifested somehow. And it appears that this somehow will have to be through the institutions of state that, in the hands of the new leadership will be transformed. But popular power must be interpreted and channeled--and it appears that this interpretation and channeling will be undertaken from the greatest heights of institutional power within the body of the 45th President now transformed into the incarnation of the popular will--a transformation that was, ironically enough, equally evident in the 44th President's initial vision.
__________
Below is the full text of Mr. Trump's Inaugural Address as the 45th president of the United States.
----------------------------
"Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans and people of the world, thank you.
We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people. Together we will determine the course of America and the world for many, many years to come. We will face challenges. We will confront hardships, but we will get the job done. Every four years we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent. Thank you.
Today's ceremony, however, has very special meaning because, today, we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to you, the people.
For too long, a small group in our nation's capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have born the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs and, while they celebrated in our nation's capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
That all changes starting right here and right now because this moment is your moment. It belongs to you. It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This is your celebration, and this, the United States of America, is your country.
What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20th, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.
Everyone is listening to you now. You came by the tens of millions to become part of an historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before. At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction that a nation exists to serve its citizens. Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighborhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves. These are just and reasonable demands of righteous people and a righteous public, but for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists.
Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, rusted out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation, an education system flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge and 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.
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. For many decades, we've enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry, subsidized the armies of other countries, while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military.
We've defended other nations' borders, while refusing to defend our own, and spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas, while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We've made other countries rich while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon. One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.
But, that is the past and now we are looking only to the future. We assembled here today, are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land. From this day forward, it's going to be only America first. America first. Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families.
We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. I will fight for you with every breath in my body and I will never, ever let you down.
America will start winning again. Winning like never before. We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams. We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports and tunnels and railways all across our wonderful nation. We will get our people off of welfare and back to work rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor. We will follow two simple rules: buy American and hire American. We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.
We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example. We will shine for everyone to follow. We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the earth. At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America and, through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other. When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.
The bible tells us how good and pleasant it is when god's people live together in unity. We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity. When America is united, America is totally unstoppable. There should be no fear. We are protected and we will always be protected. We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement and most importantly, we will be protected by God.
Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger. In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving. We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action constantly complaining, but never doing anything about it. The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action. Do not allow anyone to tell you that it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of America. We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again.
We stand at the birth of a new millennium ready to unlock the histories of space, to free the earth from the miseries of disease and to harness the energies, industries, and technologies of tomorrow. A new national pride will lift our sights and heal our divisions. It's time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget, that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots. We all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American flag.
And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky. They fill their heart with the same dreams and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty creator. So, to all Americans 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. Your voice, your hopes and your dreams will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.
Together we will make America strong again. We will make America wealthy again. We will make America proud again. We will make America safe again. And, yes, together, we will make America great again. Thank you. God bless you and god bless America. Thank you. God bless America."
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