Whether it was denial or ignorance, there was something preventing many from accepting the reality that Donald Trump won the election and was going to become the 45th president of the United States.
Well, Friday Jan. 20 made it official: Donald J. Trump was sworn into office. No more denial, it finally became real.
As per tradition, Donald Trump gave an inauguration speech. It must be acknowledged that he did fairly well in portions of it.
The speech was very consistent to the campaign he ran and was very easy to follow, regardless of your education or profession, a tactic that really helped bring him success throughout his campaign.
Trump honoured and thanked the people who got him into power — everyday, ordinary citizens who were scared about job loss, scared about their loss in wealth, scared about their borders and scared about the safety in their neighbourhood.
People certainly voted with their fears in this election; they didn’t vote with their hopes and Trump was certainly able to thrive off of that.
That was clearly displayed in the type of picture Trump drew of America in his inauguration speech. Trump clearly stated a very pessimistic view of the shape America is currently in: a dark country that has been in despair and taken advantage of by political elites and unacceptable deals with other countries.
Trump, in response, stated in his speech that “from this day forward, it’s only going to be America first.” Trump said every decision on trade, taxes, immigration and foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and their families.
Trump’s call for patriotism appears to be a popular one and a major cornerstone of what got him elected.
However, I find it simply irresponsible for the president of the United States to think that the country he is now in charge of leading does not have an imperative duty to the rest of the world to help countries in need. He doesn’t believe in cooperating in international negotiations or peacekeeping and using the world power they possess for good.
There’s a popular phrase going around right now that you’ve probably heard: “Trump’s success as president’s is everyone’s success.”
Whereas that may be true at a very broad level, when you look deeper into it, it is not so sound. For example, the economic success that Trump promises is something that Americans should undoubtedly be hopeful for.
On the other hand, if Trump succeeds in bringing forth some of the hateful, malicious and backwards policy that he is promising to bring forth, such as repealing affordable health care that has helped millions, registering Muslim Americans, banning foreign Muslims from the U.S., building a wall that will cost billions — then no.
That is not success for everyone. Rather, it is pain and suffrage for millions of Americans who Trump now has a commitment to.
So yes, I do think it only makes sense to hope for the success of Donald Trump as president, but I do not think that success should be at the expense of millions of Americans and people around the world.
And just as the reality has come that Trump is indeed the new president of the United States, reality should set in to Trump to be the president for all Americans.