The Second Inaugural Address of President Donald Trump, the 45th and 47th President of the United States, was superb. It should be remembered as the ‘Golden Age of America’ speech, but it will probably just be referenced as Trump’s Second Inaugural.
It was Abraham Lincoln who borrowed from the Book of Proverbs when he described the American commitment to individual liberty as the ‘apple of gold’ protected by the Constitution’s ‘frame of silver.’
Lincoln declared in 1861 that ‘there is in the Union a crucial promise of ‘Liberty to all’’ and noted it was ‘the principle that clears the path for all—gives hope to all—and, by consequence, enterprise, and industry to all.’
‘The expression of that principle,’ asserted Lincoln, ‘in our Declaration of Independence, was most happy, and fortunate.’ Our greatest president continued: ‘Without this, as well as with it, we could have declared our independence of Great Britain; but without it, we could not, I think, have secured our free government, and consequent prosperity. No oppressed people will fight and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better than a mere change of masters.’
‘The assertion of that principle,’ Lincoln continued, ‘at that time, was the word, ‘fitly spoke’ which has proved an ‘apple of gold’ to us. The Union, and the Constitution, are the picture of silver, subsequently framed around it. The picture was made, not to conceal, or destroy the apple; but to adorn, and preserve it. The picture was made for the apple—not the apple for the picture.’
‘So let us act,’ Lincoln admonished all American citizens then living and in the future, ‘that neither picture, or apple shall ever be blurred, or bruised or broken. That we may so act, we must study, and understand the points of danger.’
President Trump’s Second Inaugural address had at its core the crucial promise: ‘We will forge a policy that is color blind and merit based.’
This is what the Constitution has demanded since the 14th Amendment was ratified and has too often in recent years been honored in its breach.
‘The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race,’ is how Chief Justice Roberts phrased it more than a decade ago in a crucial Supreme Court decision, and that belief is the essence of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution as amended: All men are created equal, and that of course means all men and women everywhere.
It is fitting that Chief Justice Roberts administered the Oath of Office to President Trump. The Chief Justice has long championed this ‘weight-bearing wall’ of our Republic and that President Trump took up this cause should cheer every American.
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 the eight years of President Barack Obama’s tenure in the White House. Trump is committed to the ‘big lift’ of restoring the promise of the Declaration as made real by the Constitution as amended by the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment: equality before the law—for all.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural was also a divisive speech. How could it be any other? The nation was ravaged by much worse than deep political division but by a necessary but bloody Civil War. Lincoln declared in 1865. ‘Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago,’ the Great Emancipator declared, ‘so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
It doesn’t get more divisive than that, but President Trump’s declarations about the weaponization of our justice system, about the crisis at our southern border, and so much more will strike many from the left in America as harsh.
But those statements are not ‘harsh,’ but, to borrow from popular culture, they are ‘tough but fair.’ The shambles left in so many places by the chaos of the presidency of Joe Biden is undeniable, but will be denied by partisans.
‘So still it must be said,’ and President Trump said it. America is going to reclaim its sovereignty at the border and enforce the treaties it has entered into. The leadership of the Chinese Communist Party must have heard President Trump’s remarks and grasped immediately what the passage about the Panama Canal was about: Them.
The opening, and especially the close of Trump’s Second Inaugural, was soaring and optimistic. A ‘golden age’ of America is an enormous goal to set. Many, including me, are uncertain about tariffs of the era of President William McKinley. I am not uncertain in the least, though, that the American military must be expanded and its strength greatly enhanced. If you believe in a renaissance of American manufacturing, then you have to hope the returned president can make that pledge happen.
The hallmark of the address was unapologetic pride in America, and patriots applaud such pride. That millions of deportations of criminal aliens are necessary is hardly debatable. That crime menaces millions of Americans is incontrovertible. President Trump’s promise to adopt bold policies to deal with both was the essence of the Trump-Vance campaign and the new Administration has a mandate to move forward with both programs.
And so much more. Honest observers will award Trump’s speech the highest number of stars in whatever system they are using for its directness. They should applaud its resolve.
And those who wish the Republic well will also applaud the unapologetically proud tenor of Trump’s Second Inaugural. American patriotism is back on full display. Bravo.
Hugh Hewitt is host of ‘The Hugh Hewitt Show,’ heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a 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 frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his 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 his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.