Who remembers Donald Trump’s first inaugural address? Probably not very many, unless they have Googled it, as I did. That’s likely because after the speech Trump became fixated on the size of the crowd, which he repeatedly claimed was larger than official estimates.
As I re-read it, I was surprised to recall that it contained some gems and reasonable promises, some of which were frustrated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the fixation by Democrats on two impeachments and their efforts to thwart him at every turn.
Trump spoke of unity so that his goals of lowering taxes, reducing the debt and closing the border might be achieved. He got his tax cuts, but not the rest.
In his speech, he expressed gratitude to outgoing President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama “for (being) gracious and thoughtful throughout this transition.” Don’t look for anything close to that sentiment about the Bidens and congressional Democrats in Monday’s address.
In the category of wishful thinking, there was this: “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.” We’ll soon see how that works out with Republicans now in control of all three branches of the government.