Inauguration speech was Donald Trump’s first presidential flub

If there was anybody still wondering if a new Donald Trump would appear on the west front of the Capitol on Friday, the new president showed them quickly it was not to be.

In a fiery, campaign-style speech, Trump underscored the theme of the people versus Washington elites, and left little doubt about where he stood.

“For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost,” Trump said. “The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.”

And again: “What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people,” Trump said.

Remind me: How did President Barack Obama brutally seize power from the people eight years ago, again?

And how did he remain in office for so long at the expense of the people?

Oh, that’s right: An election. Decided by the people. A numerical majority of the people, in fact.

Trump didn’t entirely neglect a call to unity in his inaugural speech, calling for Americans to rally around the flag. “At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country we will rediscover our loyalty to each other,” Trump said. “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.”

And again: “It’s time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget, that whether we are black, or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots.”

Contrast that, however, with Trump’s more conciliatory election-night victory speech, given in the early morning hours of Nov. 8.

“Now is the time for America to bind the wounds of division,” Trump said then. “To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time to come together as one united people. It’s time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important to me.”

Trump also said in that speech that he was reaching out even to his political opponents for guidance and help in order to work together and unify the nation.

But on Friday, Trump’s speech had a harder edge, drawing a contrast between “a righteous people and a righteous public” and the establishment of Washington, a political class that’s all talk and no action.

Republicans on the inauguration platform cheered, but the fact is, Trump’s condemnations could apply equally to their party as to the Democrats. It’s been the Republicans who have stalled, obstructed and even ignored the duties of government during President Obama’s term. The “American carnage” of Trump’s inauguration cannot be laid only at the feet of the party that was in charge the past eight years. Democrats alone cannot be blamed for forgetting the men and women of the country.

And that’s just the thing: The problems of our nation — the schools that fail to teach, the factories that closed, the crime and everything else — spring from the neglect and inattention and sins of all of us. And their solution will require the efforts of everyone to repair — those who agree with Trump and the Republicans on the issues, as well as those who do not.

Trump had an opportunity to set that tone the first time he spoke to his fellow citizens as their new president. By choosing combativeness over compromise, he wasted that chance.

Perhaps it’s a fond thing to hope for the sake of the country and all its people that this was a momentary mistake by a new leader, and not a foreshadowing of things to come.

Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.