Trump Announces a New Ceasefire Framework, With a Warning to Hamas
Trump Has a New Message for Republicans in Final BBB Push
While You Celebrate American Freedom, the Left Will Be Protesting It
White House to Honor B-2 Pilots Behind Iran Strike at 4th of July...
Steel Industry Cheers Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill
Schmitt Exposes Dem Misinformation, Confirms Trump’s BBB Cuts Medicaid for 1.4 Million Ill...
Trump Vows to Keep Illegals Off Census: 'We Want to Bring Our Elections...
Homan Slams CNN For Promoting App That Tracks ICE
Cannibal on Deportation Flight: Noem Reveals Shocking Case as ICE Target Nation’s 'Worst...
Woke Designer Mocks Deportations in Paris Runway Show as Bukele Offers to Send...
Did You See What Ilhan Omar Posted About Somalia?
UPenn to Strip 'Lia' Thomas of Titles He Robbed From Deserving Female Athletes
Trump, Noem Tour Alligator Alcatraz: 'Not a Place I Want to Go Hiking...
More Goodies in Trump’s OBBB: School Choice Provision From Ted Cruz
The Trump Administration Is Suing This Left-Wing City Over Its Immigration Policies
OPINION

That Happened

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

That was some opening act for the 45th President's term.

The most frequent question I got on Friday was: "What did you think of the speech?"

My answer was the same to all:

Advertisement

"It wasn't the speech I would have written, but it was the speech President Trump wanted to give. That's why I didn't vote for him."

If his speech had been one of soaring Sorensonian rhetoric or Noonanesque oratory, no one would have believed that Donald Trump had believed a single word he had uttered.

I think your answer to the question is pretty simple. If you voted for Donald Trump you liked it. It was a speech to his base, promising to follow up on his campaign promises.

If you voted for Hillary Clinton, you hated it. It was a speech to his base, promising to follow up on his campaign promises.

The weekend wasn't about that.

On Saturday, some millions of people - mostly women - around the country and around the world demonstrated against the inauguration of Donald Trump.

I said, on Saturday, about those demonstrations that if the marchers had been similarly organized in the weeks before the election and had gotten on busses to Florida and Michigan and Pennsylvania and Ohio and Iowa and Wisconsin to urge women in those battleground states to get out and vote for Hillary Clinton on November 8 - then they would have been celebrating on Friday, rather than demonstrating on Saturday.

A friend of mine - a really good friend of mine - went in to downtown Washington, DC to show her support for the marchers. She texted she wanted me to support "what we are standing for."

Advertisement

I texted back that more than a million Americans (1,196,552 Americans, according to PBS) have died in large part to ensure that more than a million living Americans could peaceably assemble to demonstrate their revulsion with their government just one day after that government came to power.

Not only would their new government do nothing to them in retaliation; but, in fact, would spend millions to make sure they were safe. I am standing tall for that.

But the weekend wasn't about that, either.

On Saturday - after the swearing-in, after the parade, and after the balls - President Trump traveled to Langley, Virginia to the CIA headquarters to, one might have thought, make peace with the employees, agents, analysts, and officers.

In the end, he used the remarks to castigate the press corp for underreporting the number of people on the Smithsonian Mall for the inauguration ceremony. From The Hill newspaper:

"Honestly it looked like a million and half people, whatever it was it was. But it went all the way back to the Washington Monument ... and by mistake I get this network and it showed an empty field, and it said we drew 250,000 people. Now that's not bad, but it's a lie."

Later in the afternoon, Press Secretary Sean Spicer went into the briefing room to read a statement defending the notion that President Trump's inaugural was the biggest, bestest, greatest inaugural what ever was:

Advertisement

"Photographs of the inaugural proceedings were intentionally framed in a way, in one particular tweet, to minimize the enormous support that had gathered on the National Mall … That was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period."

It was important to the President that not only had more people attended his inauguration than any President before him, but he was far more concerned about suggestions that the anti-Trump demonstrations were larger than his inauguration.

It does no good to ask "Who cares?" when the answer is: "The President cares."

Short of committing an Article II, Section 4 offence; that is, being impeached for, and convicted of, having committed "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" we're going to have President Trump to deal with until at least January 20, 2021.

1,458 days from today.

Can't wait to see what Day Three has in store.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement