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A speech with no gravitas

Apart from a litany of complaints Trump’s statement emphasised that he will undo the agenda of his predecessor beginning with his first day in office
11:18 PM Jan 24, 2025 IST | Vivek Katju
a speech with no gravitas
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Donald Trump’s addressed the nation and the world after taking the Presidential oath on January 20 from US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. His speech lacked gravitas; his bitterness at his perception on how he had been treated in the past four years by the Biden administration and his other political adversaries came through. In the presence of Biden and other past US Presidents Trump said inter alia, “For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.

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”. Apart from a litany of complaints Trump’s statement also emphasized that he will undo the agenda of his predecessor beginning with his first day in office.

Indeed, he began to unravel the decisions of the Biden administration by signing a large number of executive orders on January 20 itself. These orders included taking the US out of the World Health Organisation and the Paris Climate Agreement. He also decided to deploy the US military at the US-Mexico border to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into the country. In addition, he pardoned around 1650 persons either convicted or accused of attacking the US Congress on January 6, 2021; this step was an incredible act of partisanship because these Trump supporters had actually rampaged through the halls of Congress injuring persons and compelling Senators to take cover. The pardon indicates that Trump wants to continue with the fiction that the 2020 Presidential election was ‘stolen’ from him. And, one order, as the ‘Politco’ noted “directs federal agencies to refuse to recognise U.S. citizenship for children born in the U.S. to mothers who are in the country illegally or here legally on visas, if the father is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident”. This citizenship related order has been legally challenged by 22 governors of different states who are Democrats.

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To return to his speech: Especially disconcerting was Trump’s lack of interest in the planet’s welfare. Trump made it clear that he was only concerned about his country’s interests. It is a given in interstate relations that a nation’s leader’s first duty is always to his/her country; but it has been assumed, in the post-colonial era, that the process to do so lies first through seeking to reconcile relations with other states and only, if necessary, undertake unilateral action, kinetic or otherwise. That did not come through in Trump’s address. This is best illustrated by his remarks on the Panama Canal.

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Trump said “President McKinley made our country very rich through tariffs and through talent — he was a natural businessman — and gave Teddy Roosevelt the money for many of the great things he did, including the Panama Canal, which has foolishly been given to the country of Panama after the United Spates — the United States — I mean, think of this — spent more money than ever spent on a project before and lost 38,000 lives in the building of the Panama Canal.
We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made, and Panama’s promise to us has been broken.
The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated. American ships are being severely overcharged and not treated fairly in any way, shape, or form. And that includes the United States Navy.
And above all, China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back”. This can only be interpreted as a direct threat against a sovereign country which is powerless in the face of US might. Is this what should be expected of the person who has once again assumed the most powerful and influential global political office? Should this be the attitude of the country which believes that it is the anchor of world order based on the sovereign rights and territorial integrity of all states, big or small? The answers to these questions are obviously ‘no’. Such attitudes are those of bullies. The problem for the world is that it will have to deal with a bully leading the strongest country of the world for the next four years.

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It has been noted earlier in this article that Trump showed a disdain for the planet’s health. He did so when he reiterated what he has been saying through the campaign—that he will go back to relying on hydrocarbons for energy. Trump said “America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have — the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth — and we are going to use it. We’ll use it. We will bring prices down, fill our strategic reserves up again right to the top, and export American energy all over the world. We will be a rich nation again, and it is that liquid gold under our feet that will help to do it”. Trump’s approaches pose a direct challenge to the world on how to deal with climate change.

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Trump was critical of the US health and education systems. There is no doubt that they need to be handled better but does he have the right ideas to do so?

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Meanwhile, India will have to bear the impact of Trump’s decisions on immigration and trade. It will though be part of its partnership against China in the Indo-Pacific.

All in all Trump’s address was disappointing and deeply worrying.