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Second opening speech For President Donald Trumpthe 45th and 47th President of the United States, was great. It should be remembered as the “America's Golden Age” speech, but it will likely be referred to as Trump's second inaugural speech.
It was Abraham Lincoln who borrowed from the Book of Proverbs when he described the American commitment to individual liberty as an “apple of gold” protected by a “frame of silver” of the Constitution.
Lincoln declared in 1861 that “there is in the Union the decisive promise of 'liberty for all'” and referred to it as “the principle which acquits road For everyone—gives He hopes For all—and as a result, the institution, and industry “For everyone.”
“the to express Lincoln asserted that “this principle was very happy and fortunate in our declaration of independence.” Our great president continued:without This, as well with We could have declared our independence from Great Britain; but without I believe we have not been able to secure our free government and consequent prosperity. No oppressed people will do that He fights and He's struggling“As our fathers did, without promising anything better than a mere change of masters.”
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“Alleging that principle“Lincoln continued,” he continued That timeHe was the word, 'Speak appropriatelyWhich proved to us that it is a “golden apple”. the Unionand constitutionshe image to silverthen it was framed around it. The photo was made, not for Hideor destruction apple; But for Decorateand Save He – she. the image Made for apple—no “The apple is for the picture.”
“So let us act,” Lincoln warned all American citizens living then and in the future, “that we may not do so either imageor apple It should be blurred, chipped or broken. To be able to act in this way, we must study and understand the danger points.”
Trump says America's decline has ended in his inauguration speech
President Trump Second opening speech At its core was the crucial promise: “We will work to forge a politics that is colorless and meritocratic.”
This is what the Constitution has demanded since the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, and which in recent years has often been respected in violation.
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discrimination on the basis of race,” Chief Justice Roberts put it more than a decade ago in a landmark Supreme Court decision, and that belief is at the core of the Declaration. Independence and the Constitution as Amended: All men are created equal, which of course means all men and women everywhere.
US President-elect Donald Trump arrives before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at the US Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th President of the United States. (Melina Mara-Pool/Getty Images)
It is fitting that Chief Justice Roberts would administer the oath of office to President Trump. The Chief Justice has long defended this “bearing wall” of our republic, and every American should be pleased that President Trump is taking up this cause.
There will be many critics of the speech because it was necessarily divisive. It had to be. It was a repudiation of almost everything of the past four years, and indeed of President Barack Obama's eight years in the White House. Trump commits to the “great accomplishment” of restoring the promise of the Declaration as it became a reality under the Constitution as amended in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments: equality before the law for all.
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Lincoln's second inaugural address was also a divisive speech. How could it be anything else? The nation has been ravaged by far worse than deep political division, but a necessary but bloody civil war. Lincoln declared in 1865. “And yet, if God wills it, it will continue until all the wealth that has been accumulated by two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil has been sunk, and until every drop of blood that has been shed by the whip has been repaid by one drawn by the whip.” “The sword, as it was said three thousand years ago,” declared the great Redeemer, “so it must still be said: ‘The judgments of the Lord are all true and just.’”
It doesn't get much more divisive than that, but President Trump's statements about the weaponization of our justice system, about the crisis at our southern border, and much more will strike many on America's left as harsh.
But these statements are not “harsh,” but rather “harsh but fair,” to borrow from popular culture. The chaos of Joe Biden's presidency is undeniable in many places, but partisans will deny it.
President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, Monday, January 20, 2025. (Julia Demarai Nickinson/Pool via Reuters)
“So it still needs to be said,” and President Trump said it. America will restore its sovereignty over the borders and implement the treaties it concluded. The leadership of the Chinese Communist Party must have heard President Trump's remarks and immediately realized what the Panama Canal segment was about: Hmm.
The inauguration, and especially the closing of Trump's second inauguration, was full of optimism and optimism. America's “Golden Age” is a formidable goal to set. Many, myself included, are unsure about tariffs under President William McKinley. However, I am not in the least bit sure that the US military should be expanded and strengthened significantly. If you believe in the renaissance of American manufacturing, you should hope that the returning president can deliver on this pledge.
The hallmark of the speech was unapologetic pride in America, and patriots applaud that pride. The necessity of deporting millions of criminal aliens is beyond debate. That this crime threatens millions of Americans is beyond question. President Trump's promise to adopt bold policies to address both was the core of the Trump-Vance campaign, and the new administration has a mandate to advance both programs.
And much more. Honest observers will give Trump's speech the highest number of stars in any system they use to deliver it. They should applaud his determination.
And those who wish the Republic well will also applaud the proud, unapologetic tenor of Trump's second inauguration. American patriotism has resurfaced in full force. Bravo.
Hugh Hewitt is the host of “The Hugh Hewitt Show,” heard weekday mornings from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on the Salem News Channel. Hugh America wakes up on more than 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. An Ohio native and graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a professor of law at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law since 1996, where he teaches constitutional law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has appeared frequently on every major national television news network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major U.S. newspaper, authored dozens of books and ran a host of Republican programs. Candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-2016 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and column on the Constitution, national security, American politics, and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over 40 years of broadcasting, and this column explores the key stories that will drive his radio/TV show today.
