Donald Trump's inaugural address was great

Can his presidency measure up?

A great American speech.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Carlos Barria)

President Donald Trump's inaugural address was a great American speech.

He delivered a greatest hits of American mottos, from Theodore Roosevelt's doctrine of action to Franklin Roosevelt's admonition against fear. He echoed Bill Clinton's promise that whatever's wrong with America can be fixed by what's right with America, even riffing on Bubba's signature line about feeling your pain. Trump summoned Ronald Reagan's familiar invocation of the shining city on a hill. But he also brought back the tropes of an older America, one where grinding struggle and reversals of national fortune defined the spirit of the age. For Trump, "America first" is once again not a principle of vanity or greed, but of grim necessity.

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James Poulos

James Poulos is a contributing editor at National Affairs and the author of The Art of Being Free, out January 17 from St. Martin's Press. He has written on freedom and the politics of the future for publications ranging from The Federalist to Foreign Policy and from Good to Vice. He fronts the band Night Years in Los Angeles, where he lives with his son.