‘Revolution of common sense’: Trump will strike a more optimistic tone than in 2017 in first address
Donald Trump is will call for a “revolution of common sense” as he delivers his second inaugural address, striking a more optimistic tone than his remarks made in 2017.
While elected presidents typically relay a message of hope after taking the 35-word oath of office, on January 20, 2017, the incoming commander-in-chief propelled the phrase “American carnage” into political lexicon.
As Trump prepares to be sworn into office for a second time around noon on Monday – this year inside the Capitol Rotunda due to plummeting temperatures – he is expected to paint a far less dystopian portrait of American life.
“I return to the presidency confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country,” Trump is expected to say, according to excerpts of his prepared speech shared with the Wall Street Journal.
“My message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor and the vitality of history’s greatest civilization.”
The Journal also reported that Trump will call for a “revolution of common sense”.
The leaked remarks come weeks after the soon-to-be 47th president promised that he would not repeat the same abrasive rhetoric and, instead, peddle a message of unity to launch his second four-year term.
“We’re going to have a message,” he told NBC on December 8. “It will make you happy: unity. It’s going to be a message of unity.”
“And no ‘American carnage?’” Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker probed.
“No ‘American carnage,’ no,” Trump responded.
The phrase became shorthand for Trump’s 16-minute long speech in 2017 which described the US as a festering, crime-rampant wasteland, of which his reign was the antidote.
“Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country,” Trump told the nation eight years ago.
“Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land. ... The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.”
Elsewhere in the speech, he added: “Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of knowledge; and the crime and gangs and drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.
“This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”
Surrounded by political heavyweights, former President George W. Bush is believed to have summarized Trump’s remarks as “some weird s**t,” three sources near the Republican told New York magazine at the time.
In his first rally-style speech after wining the 2024 election, in Phoenix, Arizona, on December 22, Trump announced he would lead a “common sense revolution that's coming soon to America... to a theater near you”.
On the eve of his inauguration at the Capital One Arena in downtown Washington, Trump told supporters that “four long years of American decline” were about to grind to a halt as he returned to the White House a day later.
“I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country,” he added.
On day one, the president-elect said he has plans to enact a record 200-plus executive orders, covering everything from border security and energy, but will be forced to do so with only a quarter of the staff he needs.
The Independent has learned that only 1,000 people have been hired to fill a fraction of the 4,000 important presidentially appointed roles atop the federal bureaucracy, many of which can be put in place without the need of Senate confirmation.
That’s roughly 300 fewer than the number of appointees hired during Trump’s chaotic 2016-2017 transition effort.
Trump vowed to repeal incumbent President Joe Biden’s executive plans “within hours” of taking office.
