The Emperor Takes His Seat

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Donald Trump's investiture as President of the United States will be barely noticed in the annals of American history, as will his presidency. The institution of the inaugural address has traditionally been a message of hope for the country -- not so with Mr. Trump.  Filled with canned platitudes and implicit threats, his inaugural speech will be remembered for its absence of substance or a meaningful vision for the country. Instead of the inspiring words of John F. Kennedy, the soaring rhetoric of Woodrow Wilson, Trump painted a bleak, dark portrait of a country where we have:

“Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities, rusted-out factories, scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation, an education system flush with cash but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge. And the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.”

Mr. Trump has been offering the American electorate half-truths and outright lies since the primaries. Now as president, he continues to engage a strategy designed to convince the nation that it is headed for a cliff, that it is gravely ill and he's the only one with as remedy. It's time for a second opinion.

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