Trump's inaugural address offers nothing to soothe the worst fears about him

By Greg Sargent January 20 at 2:32 PM

There are three pressing fears that those who did not vote for Donald Trump — and perhaps even some who did — might legitimately harbor about Trump’s presidency, after having observed him campaign for the past year and, after winning, begin preparing for the transfer of power.

The first is that Trump might continue dividing us along racial or ethnic lines, perhaps through carrying out his draconian immigration promises, or through the active persecution of Muslims, or by aiding and abetting voter suppression tactics tacitly designed to disenfranchise minorities.

The second is that Trump is going to weaken our democratic norms further by refusing to adhere to minimal standards of transparency and conflict-of-interest avoidance that we might expect from our public officials, or perhaps even by tipping into some forms of authoritarian rule.

The third is that Trump might back away from the post-war system of international alliances that he has repeatedly hinted at undermining, through criticism of NATO and praise of Vladimir Putin.

Trump’s inaugural speech offered almost nothing meaningful to assuage any of these fears. Making this more striking still, this comes after Trump lost the popular vote and enters office as the least popular president in decades.

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