6 takeaways from Trump’s inaugural address

Donald John Trump was inaugurated as president Monday for the second time in eight years. And again, we were all glued to his speech for clues about what lay ahead.

Trump has often talked high-mindedly about “unity,” and he apparently aimed for it in this speech. But that has always been tempered by his tendency toward painting dark images of the country he promises to save (as he did in his 2017 inaugural speech) and political score-settling.

And starting at noon Eastern time Monday, Trump was considerably less constrained than he has ever been politically, given he’s now a term-limited president.

Below are some takeaways from Trump’s inaugural speech.

1. A subdued Trump paints another dark portrait - with him as the avenging hero.

The speech, which was moved inside due to the weather, was a relatively subdued affair by Trump’s standards.

But it carried many of the same dark themes of his 2017 address, and Trump repeatedly built himself up as a singular figure in American history - one even God had ordained.

Trump decried the “radical and corrupt establishment.” He cast the government as unable to protect people from rampant crime and natural disasters. He said that the “pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.”

And Trump didn’t just express optimism that we would confront these challenges; he pitched himself as the divinely chosen antidote.

He claimed that his life was spared from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year because, “I was saved by God to make America great again.”

“My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier,” he predicted at another point.

“Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history,” he said, placing himself above the likes of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

“Many people thought it was impossible for me to stage such a historic political comeback,” Trump said at another point. “But as you see today, here I am. The American people have spoken.”

2. He took broad but pointed shots at other leaders.

Trump’s speech wasn’t as focused on score-settling and attacking his political foes as his usual fare. But there were some notable instances where he subtly attacked the Biden administration and Democrats - particularly on disasters like Hurricane Helene and the Los Angeles wildfires.

“We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalogue of catastrophic events abroad,” Trump said.

He said the people of North Carolina who are recovering from Helene have “been treated so badly.” (Trump repeatedly made false claims about the disaster response at the end of the 2024 presidential campaign.)

He also said, “We’re watching fires still tragically burn from weeks ago without even a token of defense.”

3. Two words to remember: “Manifest Destiny.”

Two words that really stuck out from Trump’s address: “Manifest Destiny.”

Trump invoked the phrase, which has been historically used to justify the expansion of the United States, while laying out his increasingly expansionist agenda. He used it specifically while talking about planting an American flag on Mars, but that was hardly the only idea the concept could be applied to.

- He said he will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

- He said he will change Mount Denali’s name back to Mount McKinley - for former president William McKinley - after Barack Obama changed it.

- And most strikingly, he devoted a significant chunk of his speech to reclaiming the Panama Canal. “We didn’t give it to China; we gave it to Panama,” Trump said. “And we’re taking it back.”

Perhaps tellingly, the Panama Canal section was among the most animated portions of Trump’s speech.

He notably did not invoke his other frequently stated expansionist goal: claiming Greenland from Denmark.

4. He made more false and dubious claims.

Even a staid speech like an inaugural address wasn’t immune from Trump’s tendency toward hyperbole and falsehoods.

Trump claimed U.S. ships are being “severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape or form” at the Panama Canal, even though Panamanian officials say all countries are subject to the same fees.

He claimed the United States “lost 38,000 lives in the building of the Panama Canal.” This vastly overstates the official death toll.

He said many undocumented immigrants come “from prisons and mental institutions.” There is no evidence other countries are sending large numbers of people from their prisons and mental institutions, as Trump has often claimed.

Trump also claimed his national emergency declaration for the U.S.-Mexico border will mean “all illegal entry will immediately be halted” - an impossible goal.

5. Tariffs and some other issues got short shrift.

While Trump talked about many of his major 2024 campaign promises, one big one got relatively short shrift: He included only brief mentions of tariffs.

“We will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens,” Trump said. “For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties and revenues.”

The only other tariff mention came when Trump talked about McKinley’s tariffs. Trump’s team has talked about scaling back his huge proposed tariffs.

Trump also made only glancing mention of problems with the health-care system and the idea of cutting government spending.

6. Trump cited “weaponization” but not retribution.

President Joe Biden’s final actions before Trump’s inauguration cast a spotlight on Trump’s promises of retribution against his enemies. Biden pardoned many people Trump has suggested should be prosecuted, like those who served on and assisted the House Jan. 6 committee and even multiple members of his family.

“Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end,” Biden said in justifying the pardons.

Trump focused repeatedly on the idea that the system had been weaponized against him, but he stopped short of explicitly talking about going after his foes.

“The scales of justice will be rebalanced,” Trump said. “The vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department and our government will end.”

He added: “Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents - something I know something about. We will not allow that to happen. It will not happen again.”

Trump seemed to be suggesting he knew “something about” such weaponization because it was targeted at him. But in his first term, he repeatedly pushed for investigations and prosecutions of his foes - in ways the record has never shown Biden to have done.