Washington Is Now a Three-Party Town
Matt Purple
The two American presidents most alike Donald Trump are Andrew Jackson and Theodore Roosevelt (nationalism, hostility towards concentrations of power—that last one is more apt than you think). Yet if you’re looking for similarities to President Trump’s maiden speech on Friday, you’ll comb through Jackson’s and Roosevelt’s inaugural addresses in vain. Jackson’s are surprisingly delicate statements of political theory, including a pledge to “keep steadily in view the limitations as well as the extent of the Executive power.” Roosevelt’s are more sweeping, but still humble, with a focus on Americans’ “duties to others and duties to ourselves.”
Trump’s inaugural address, in contrast, was replete with litanies of what government owes its people, almost all of which it’s been failing to provide. At first, the speech sounded like it might be Reaganesque: “For too long,” Trump began, “a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the costs.” Cut to Dick Cheney in his ubiquitous cowboy hat sitting next to Hillary Clinton, charter members of that aforementioned small group. Presidential inaugurations are a weird American blend of political aristocracy, martial mystique, and soapbox speechifying; Trump’s was, too, though with more of the third element than usual.
Source URL (retrieved on January 22, 2017):
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/washington-now-three-party-town-19142
