DAVID KRAYDEN: Two inauguration speeches from Donald Trump: both proclaim a new birth of freedom

Trump delivered not only for Americans but for the faithful, who wondered whether he would water down his comments for public consumption. He even addressed the assassination attempts, graphically describing his experience in the first one and saying, “I was saved by God to Make America Great Again.”

If there are inauguration speeches that Americans remember, they are those delivered by President Abraham Lincoln and President John Kennedy. Most Americans can remember a line or two of Lincoln’s first address where he concluded with the immortal declaration, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

And most Americans can probably quote Kennedy’s challenge to “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Lincoln spoke of a new birth of freedom during the Gettysburg Address on Nov. 20, 1863. And that's precisely what Trump delivered on Monday. He has willed that America, emaciated and wrecked by woke forces, back from oblivion. 

President Donald Trump delivered two inaugural speeches in the last two days. The first was to a hyper-enthusiastic MAGA crowd in Washington on Sunday night. That was to the true believers. The second was the one that history will remember, following his inauguration as the 47th president on Monday. The first speech was more strident, more vilifying, more pure Trump. The second was also pure Trump but with just a little less anger. But ultimately, both speeches are bookends of the same presidency and the same man. And both speeches were precisely in sync.

The indoor inauguration presented a scene that was not entirely satisfactory for any MAGA enthusiast. Even if they had spent $1 million for the privilege, why were Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos occupying the VIP seating when world leaders couldn’t get into the Senate chamber? Former Vice President Mike Pence, a man alone, seemed like a solitary and isolated figure as he entered the room to be seated. To be honest, the look on his face depicted not just sadness but deep regret over becoming the embodiment of backstabbing in the Trump administration.

Yes, there are concerns that Trump has selected a cabinet that is part MAGA, part Deep State, part Trump agenda, part Washington agenda, a profound icing of America First on a deep dish cake of business as usual. But no president will meet every demand of the activist or the ideologue; no politician will ever be emblematic of sheer integrity. There is distrust of Marco Rubio as secretary of state, disappointment over Director of National Intelligence nominee Tulsi Gabbard’s flip-flop on FISA; demands that Trump stay consistent about aid to Ukraine and its future in NATO.

But we know he intends to secure the border. We understand he is serious about deporting illegals. We comprehend that we have gone from an era of insanity that exalted nonsense about multiple genders to one that understands there are only two sexes.

Trump spoke to the true believers on Sunday night at a victory rally in DC that brought the Village People back together to perform their YMCA hit that has been integral to Trump campaigns for almost a decade now. I watched the speech live but listened to it again the following morning to see what lines were most popular with those in attendance, what garnered the most applause.

“We will teach our children to love our country, to honor our history and to always respect our great American flag, and we will get critical race theory and transgender insanity the hell out of our schools. And always remember, this is so easy. This will be done tomorrow. We will keep men out of women's sports. It's over,” Trump said to rapturous applause, before putting his essential agenda into one succinct statement.

“I will defend religious liberty. I will restore free speech, and I will defend the right to keep and bear arms. We're going to defend that. After years of building up foreign nations, defending foreign borders and protecting foreign lands, we are finally going to build up our country, defend our borders and protect our citizens. We will stop illegal immigration once and for all. We will not be invaded, we will not be occupied, we will not be overrun, we will not be conquered. We will be a free and proud nation once again.”

Trump did not disappoint in his inauguration address that was perhaps the most explosive and eviscerating in American history. Lincoln might have been more eloquent, Kennedy more transcendent but Trump was more incisive.

Where do I begin? This was more than an address; it was an order to the Deep State to cease and desist; a declaration from the commander-in-chief that the delusion of the Biden era has ended like the last drop from a bottle of bourbon.

Trump began by accentuating the positive: “Sunlight is pouring over the entire world and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before, but first, we must be honest about the challenges we face while they are plentiful, they will be annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing.”

And then he identified the real enemy of America - not China, not Russia, not even Canada but an agency that has engendered a “crisis of trust” in the country. “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 catalog of catastrophic events abroad. It fails to protect our magnificent law abiding American citizens, but provide sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals, many from prisons and mental institutions that have illegally entered our country from all over the world.”

Wow. Did you ever think you’d hear that from a president and not just a candidate to be president? Trump immediately took care of business and got to the border crisis that the Biden administration would never even acknowledge existed.

“First I will declare a national emergency at our southern border. All illegal entry will immediately be halted, and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came. We will reinstate my remain in Mexico policy. I will end the practice of catch and release, and I will send troops to the southern border to repel the disastrous invasion of our country,” Trump said as jaws dropped across the room.

“Under the orders I signed today, we will also be designating the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and by invoking the alien enemies act of 1798, I will direct our government to use the full and immense power of federal and state law enforcement to eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to US soil, including our cities and inner cities.”

Trump also promised to end Biden’s Green energy policy. “In other words, you’ll be able to buy the car of your choice.” He said enough of the woke military and he had the guts to say the federal government will only acknowledge two genders: male and female.

Trump loves to talk about winning. Conservatives, libertarians and commonsense policies have been losing in a huge way over the past four years. Trump didn’t just point to victory on Monday; he said he will lead us there right now. Stop worrying; as of today we are winning and all Americans are going to win, too. For sheer efficacy, this might be the greatest inauguration speech in history because it demonstrates how a president does not have to betray his core supporters or compromise his policies upon assuming power.