MIbi you They used to apply a huge discount to Donald Trump’s claims; No one can blame you. But he already has a chance to lead America into the world He declared a golden age In his second inaugural address. Historical circumstances, political dynamics, and his own boldness could also enable him to achieve the legacy he wants as a “peacemaker and unifier.” His party is in trouble. His opponents at home are confused and exhausted, and America’s opponents abroad are preoccupied with their own problems. Trump has struggled for a decade against anyone he considered to have crossed him. Perhaps his most formidable opponent still standing is himself.
Taking office again, Trump embarked on a marketing blitz, a familiar routine, but this time with a twist: instead of having to convince people of something grander than it already is — that Trump Tower in Manhattan is 68 stories high instead of 68 floors high. 58 – He should honestly take credit for better things than Americans might realize. America’s economy is Envy of the world. America is already exporting unprecedented amounts of gas and oil, and the biggest obstacle preventing pumping more is global demand. But Trump’s inaugural address declaration of a “national energy emergency” might help him jump on top of that parade celebrating American glory that poor President Joe Biden lacked the resources to host.
Similar skills explain Trump’s opening commitment that Americans will now “be able to buy the car you choose,” which was equally true under Biden (and equally untrue for those who chose a Ferrari but can’t afford one), and his pledge. Using troops to “repel a catastrophic invasion of our country” at the southern border, where arrests for illegal crossing are below the level they were when Trump left office.
However, Trump’s initial executive orders are intended to do more than just paint the lily. In some cases, they call for radical action, especially on immigration. As with Trump’s promises to impose tariffs and exhume him from the grave of “manifest destiny,” no one knows how far he might go with his deportation initiative. But there is also a larger, more hopeful possibility: Could his flashy crackdown be part of a grand plan for a Gilded Age?
In Trump’s first term, some of his aides saw the possibility of linking enhanced border security with broader reform of the US immigration system. For all his harsh rhetoric about immigrants, Trump has sometimes seemed sympathetic, especially regarding people who were brought over as children. Last October, he told the magazine’s editorial board Wall Street Journal He had a practical reason for his tough talk on illegal immigration: “The softer you get, the more people will come to us illegally.” (The Biden administration has unfortunately learned this lesson.) But Trump said: “We have a lot of good people in this country, and we have to do something about it.” Overall, Trump, who is married to an immigrant and this is not the first time, said: “I want a lot of people to come, but I want them to come legally.”
Trump tries to win support in any room he enters, which may explain his comments to the public magazine Editors. But he may also realize that he has gained more credibility with immigration hard-liners than any other president in memory, and thus has a chance to achieve what his predecessors could not. Comprehensive immigration reform has eluded presidents since 1986, under Ronald Reagan It was signed into law that strengthens border security along with amnesty for nearly 3 million people in America illegally.
It is possible that Trump will make other major deals between the two parties. He has not shown interest in the kind of far-reaching tax reform that Reagan achieved, but in his first term he showed a flash of ambition for the kind of gun safety legislation that polls show a majority of Americans want. “The conversation will never be the same as it was in the past,” he told grieving parents and students after a 19-year-old gunman killed 17 people at a Florida high school in 2018. “It’s been going on for a very long time, too.” In many cases, we’ll get it done.” He chided Republican lawmakers for being “afraid” of the NRA (but then, after speaking to… Natural Resources Authority The officials themselves backed down.)
Such deals at home would fulfill Trump’s vision of being unified. The opportunities he has to prove himself as a peacemaker, and to extend the golden aura that surrounds America far beyond its shores, await us not in Panama but in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, where the war may have exhausted America’s allies but has certainly weakened its opponents, Russia and Iran. The test for Trump is whether he can insist on fair deals for Ukraine and the Palestinians.
With hatred towards some
From Abraham Lincoln to Franklin Roosevelt to Reagan, presidents who have accomplished great things appear to history to be more unified than they appeared to their contemporaries. They were all divided as well. They were also subjected to fierce criticism and even violent attack.
But Trump has not yet hinted at the greatness of spirit that these presidents brought to office. The petty partisanship of his inaugural address, coupled with the pardons he issued for the violent Jan. 6 convicts, do not bode well for the chances of overcoming the weaknesses that are likely to overshadow what could be a golden age: self-pity, Intermittent attention. Extent, exposure to the adulation and idolization of powerful men. “Trump’s sense of grievance has reinforced his tendency to curry favor with his most loyal supporters rather than broaden his base of support,” General H.R. McMaster concludes in his memoir, At War With Ourselves, about the period in which His stint as Trump’s national security adviser during Trump’s presidency. First semester. “Trump’s lack of discipline has made him the antagonist in his own story.” And in America. ■
