The inauguration of Donald Trump as President today brings with it provocative questions about what is ahead.
We know why Trump was elected; he tapped into the broad swath of anger and anxiety among white working class voters, while Hillary Clinton failed to generate the same level of voter enthusiasm as Barack Obama.
We know that Trump has mastered and manipulated social media like no other politician before him, allowing him to communicate directly with supporters, but also providing a steady stream of fodder for his critics.
We know he’s a counter puncher, one who will seize on what he believes is an opponent’s mistake by striking back, hard, to try to gain a tactical advantage. Trump’s willingness to respond with force may make some of his critics think twice, but the strategy risks swamping him in a series of never ending fights and a growing list of enemies.
But we really don’t know what kind of President he’s going to be. Wall Street Journal deputy editor Daniel Henninger writes that’s he’s unsure what is ahead, but Trump’s election does bring into focus the previous failings of government.
“Today, that administrative state, like an old dying star, is in destructive decay. Government failures are causing global political instability,” he writes. “This is the real legitimacy problem and is the reason many national populations are in revolt. Some call that populism. Others would call it a democratic awakening.”
Henninger believes government elites have lost their credibility to determine the national purpose and their ability to “mollify myriad constituencies” with more and more stuff. “The state’s carrying capacity has been reached.”
When Trump says it’s time to “make America great again,” does that mean he is going to do it or that it’s up to us? The modern template is for politicians to promise what they are going to do for us, but it has not always been that way. We used to be more self-reliant.
President John Kennedy, during his 1961 inaugural address, deftly shifted responsibility back to the people, to a new generation of Americans. “In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course.”
Four paragraphs later, the young President challenged citizens with his immortal words: “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
The 2016 election determined a winner, but it did not unite the country, and President Trump assumes office with an approval rating of just 40 percent (WaPo/ABC News Poll). However, the environment today is like a church social compared to the cavernous divide when Abraham Lincoln assumed the Presidency and put his faith in the people.
Still hoping to avoid a fight with the southern states, Lincoln appealed to “the better angels of our nature.” Four years later, Lincoln in his second inaugural address asked for “malice toward none, with charity for all.”
That was a high calling for Americans considering the immeasurable cost of the four-year-long Civil War.
Lincoln, Kennedy and other great leaders have always understood that the inherent strength of the country lies with “we the people” and our ability to “form a more perfect union.” Government is a mechanism, not a master.
Henninger suggests that the wisest course “is not to be distracted by the larger-than-life person in the Oval Office,” whoever it might be.
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