American Carny

The peaceful transfer of power that is an American hallmark took place at noon on Friday as Donald Trump became the forty-fifth President of the United States. Though I’ve been a prolific critic of Trump, I’ve never been one to join the “not my president” chant, and I was planning to lead with a hopeful message on a solemn day. But Forty-Five opened his tenure with a divisive campaign speech masquerading as an inaugural address. It was pointedly offensive to the former presidents behind him, presented a warped and hopeless version of American carnage, and delivered a harsh, off-putting and grim message to our allies abroad. Donald Trump has surprised us at every turn during this political process. And he surprised even his harshest critics today, on the downside. (On the plus side, it’s been about an hour and there’s been no nuclear war. So those who bet the over won.)

+ “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.” Here’s a transcript of the speech.

+ Here’s a video of the speech. Bloomberg has a collection of photos. And you can follow some live updates of inauguration day.

+ And yes, the Potus Twitter account now has a new owner.

+ While the speech was poor, I sincerely hope that this presidency has many moments like the one when Trump met with a supporter named Shane Bouvet whose story had been featured in WaPo. Bouvet borrowed shoes and got a suit from a friend to attend the inauguration. Trump met with him personally, thanked him for his support, and offered him a check for $10,000.