Never in my lifetime have I heard a Presidential Inauguration message so directly address the American people and challenge the political status quo as when Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President of the United States. In his address (link here), he didn’t spout the same tired old platitudes that we’ve been hearing for decades now…fables about the glories of globalism, the equality of cultures, or a Utopian American vision as seen through the eyes of big banking, big business, big government, and the military-industrial complex. Rather, what we heard was a message of hope for the average guy, the dispossessed “deplorables” who have been long forgotten by the establishment: “American labor and workers…the middle class…the forgotten men and women of our country”, as well as “Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities.”
It is to those people that Trump addressed his populist message, a message long overdue, and he laid the blame for their demise squarely where it belongs: at the feet of those nearest to him inside Washington’s Beltway, for the carnage wreaked on America would not have been possible without the complicity and outright treason of the rulers and oligarchs who have usurped our republic. It was bold. It was audacious. And it was brave, because there are a whole lot of people who’ve challenged the entrenched politicos who are no longer alive to tell about it. Let us hope that Trump will not become one of them, as CNN so obviously hopes.
He tells America that he is “transferring power from Washington, D.C., and giving it back to…the people” because “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.”
This message is not only true, it is a direct slap in the face, not just to Obama’s legacy, but to the entire collective cesspool of lobbyists, politicians, CEO’s, bankers, and media elites who have thumbed their noses at us all for the last four decades while they wallowed in stolen lucre at the expense of the average Joe. It is a hugely populist theme, the likes of which haven’t rung out in DC since William Jennings Bryan delivered his “Cross of gold” speech in 1896.
Trump advocates that “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families” and that his administration will follow two simple rules: “buy American and hire American”. This is great news for anyone who has lost a job to foreign industry, a home to foreclosure, or a loved one to an illegal murderer that came across our porous border, and bad news for globalists, Banksters, money changers, and other filth.
Yet it is in our foreign policy that Trump most markedly diverges from the current (((Neocon cabal))) that has had a stranglehold on our nation’s capital since the Reagan administration. This incestuous group of warmongers has encouraged the slaughter of people all over the globe in the name of “American interests” and “democracy” and other such nonsense. At what point was it in my interest to invade Iraq based on the lies of our own CIA and spend over a trillion dollars trying to bomb Stone Age peoples into believing in democracy? Was it in the interest of the 4,000+ dead Americans that gave up their lives for nothing? I’ll get no answer from the halls of Mordor for those questions.
Trump sees through such blatant disinformation and supports an America more alined with George Washington than with talking heads like Wolfowitz, Perle, and Kagan, et al. “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.” What a novel concept! You mean, maybe it’s better to “avoid foreign entanglements” than enter into treaties with alien cultures on the other side of the planet? That we might win more friends by setting a good example than by bombing wedding parties and imposing trade barriers? Good Lord, soon we’ll have to acknowledge that we aren’t as “exceptional” as we thought we were!
In his speech, Trump constantly repeats the theme of America first: American jobs, American products, American industry, American infrastructure. He doesn’t speak of handouts to ease the pain of poverty, or government programs to support sweetheart deals for corporations, or the next place in the world that we need to invade. Rather, he offers a vision in which people can hope to rise up from poverty and prosper through the sweat of their own brow because the government isn’t actively working against them. It is a vision that places the hope for America’s future where it belongs-not in the hands of bureaucrats in the Deep State, but in the individual, by giving him the tools to make his own way with dignity in life. That’s a message we should all be able to get behind.
Yet the media, academia, and political establishment are all horrified at the thought that this simple dream might actually come to fruition, and that, to me, speaks volumes about who the friends of the American people really are, because the choice is clear: On the one hand, we have George Soros, the Banksters, the media, the CEO’s, the UN, the Neocons, the globalists, the race baiters, and the NGOs -the same people who have driven down wages for Americans, fomented war across the globe, and opened or own borders to invasion for the last half century-and on the other hand, you have Donald J Trump and “Joe Schmo”, the everyday guy with a message of “America First”. Seems easy enough for me to choose. How about you?
author
Roads Less Traveled 
Some fools like Geraldo Rivera wanted poetry but that was Obama’s game poetry and failure.
Donald Trump is not the answer to the ills of globalisation and capitalism gone wrong. He will destroy America’s standing in the world and will rule for his billionaire friends not for Joe Schmo.
The difference between you and I is (and I suspect this is just one difference among many) is that I don’t care one whit for “America’s standing in the world”, especially if keeping that “standing” legacy intact means continuing with the Nobel Peace Prize Winner’s (Obozo’s) policy of continuous war to keep the MIC and Israel happy. So far, he’s done more for America in 8 days than the previous incompetent did in 8 years for the average guy-the only politician in memory that actually seems to want to keep his campaign promises.
I actually agree with you on the war and Israel and I can understand that you don’t care about America’s standing in the world but I am still unsure what you think he has done for the ordinary person?
He is a billionaire who will do whatever he can to forward the interests of billionaires. How does anything he has done help the ordinary person?
Illegal aliens cost US taxpayers a lot of money and commit disproportionate crime while changing our culture for the worse, yet the primary beneficiaries of that cheap labor are in fact CEOs and the rich. By securing our border Trump is doing Joe Schmo a favor.
By appointing people to State and the CIA who don’t seem to want a war with Russia he is doing everyone a favor who don’t want to fry in a nuclear conflagration.
He has already helped thousands of people get or keep their high-paying jobs that were going to be exported but he talked the companies to keep the jobs here…all of them ordinary folks. Obama never lifted a finger to help a factory worker here.
By trashing TPP and NAFTA he is also helping to keep jobs here…do you really think the billionaire class likes what he did?
By poking his finger in the eye of the (((MSM))) he has done what many ordinary working stiffs wish they could have done for the last thirty years.
By stopping regulatory agencies from continuing to roll to more red tape than businesses can handle he is helping to keep jobs in this country. Ditto for the pipeline deal he just made-good for labor and, true-good also for the rich-a rare win-win.
The fact is, you can tell a lot about a man by who his enemies are-and Trump’s enemies are legion, especially among the billionaire/elite/technocrat/MSM/educational/NGO/Soros crowd-precisley the people that have crapped all over regular working stiffs for more than a generation now. If he’s such a pal of the uber-rich, why do you think they hate him so?
I don’t like everything about Trump. He surrounded himself with Goldman Sachs alumni and his position on Israel is more servile than his predecessor. That and the fact he has inherited a financial nightmare doesn’t bode well for the future. I’m pretty sure that whether it was Hillary or Trump taking office right now the party is already over for the American economy and I expect a major recession in the very near future, possibly even stagflation. I just hope that by saving a few jobs Trump can soften the blow for the most vulnerable among us-Blue Collar Americans.
Thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time to reply and while I may not agree, I feel I have a much better understanding of his support- yours is expressed much better than anything I have seen from Trump himself. If you don’t mind I’d like to keep debating with you.
I’m interested in your views on climate change as that’s one of the things that scares me most?
Sure Andy! And I will say that you’re more reasonable and less combative than anyone I’ve heard from on the left. Even my brother simply refuses to talk to me about it…but then he’s from Portlandia. 🙂
BTW, you’re not my old college friend and roomie Andy are you? Long shot I know….
Climate change. Well of course no one debates that it happens. The question is does man cause any significant difference? I do not know, but I’m leaning toward no we don’t. I can remember reading about the coming Ice Age from supposed authorities on the environment (look it up, it’s true). Now they say OOPS! We really meant global warming. Make up your mind! The thing about these “scientists” is that they never withdrew or apologized for that false premise, yet the same people are still held aloft as being credible. Anyone else in any other field making that kind of stupid mistake would at least have to issue a Mea Culpa. That they never did speaks volumes about their integrity. Never forget, these professors and researchers need to keep you scared. It’s what pays their bills…just like the Pentagon needs a boogieman-so we’ll keep throwing money their way. No difference. Remember, always follow the money!
If we had made the coming Ice Age a priority in our spending programs we’d have lost a lot of jobs and squandered untold billions based on the false theories and premises of charlatans. That’s pretty much how I feel about these global warming advocates-many of them the EXACT SAME people who said it was a new Ice Age we’d be causing.
Before we spend huge dollars on global warming initiatives, I’d want the science to be proven. Not a theory. A scientific law. Until then, it’s a waste of money and time. But let’s assume for a moment that global warming is real. I can assure you that the USA pollutes far less than other countries adjusted for GDP. Compare our pollution to China-there really is no comparison. So if you really believe in global warming, the people to petition for change should begin over there first-they’re the biggest polluters on earth by far.
Pingback: At the Trump Rally-A Populist Speaks | Roads Less Traveled