Surprise: Trump’s Inauguration Didn’t Offer Unity After All
Presidents usually try for soaring poetry when they’re sworn in. Not this one.
Only the necktie was bipartisan.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/AFP/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump’s second inaugural address on Monday was in keeping with the spirit of the man. It tracked like a campaign speech rather than a celebration of a higher purpose. That was to be expected. Trump is averse to poetry and wedded to the prose of practicality and persuasion, even while being impractical and incendiary.
Prior to the speech, there had been predictions that Trump might emphasize “unity.” Similar forecasts greeted his speech at the Republican National Convention in July. But “unity” barely made an appearance at the RNC and in his Monday address, Trump invoked the word but not the sentiment — promising to bring a “new spirit of unity” to the world and proclaiming that “national unity is now returning to America” even as the substance of the speech offered every sign to the contrary.