At the inauguration, Donald Trump’s agenda came to light

Donald Trump’s speech yesterday was very different from his speech eight years ago. At the time, Trump’s words were in many ways dark, bitter and angry. But now, even while presenting his view of a declining America, Trump has tapped into Americans’ best instincts.

In the same vein, the new president has placed great emphasis on American unity, strength, and prosperity, as well as the shared values ​​that define our country.

It is difficult, as a citizen and a Democrat – albeit not an extreme partisan – not to be pleased by the tone of Trump’s rhetoric. However, his calls for unity, which I viewed as sincere, were also marked by repeated attacks on the Biden administration. Moreover, there was a clear sense that Trump’s personal circumstances, including the assassination attempt and multiple prosecutions, had profoundly influenced his views.

Rhetoric aside, the agenda Trump put forward yesterday is relatively popular, and Democrats would be wise to find a way to work with the president to enact much of it.

Polls released this weekend showed that much of what Trump has focused on, such as immigration, inflation and national security, will be met with enthusiasm.

In fact, according to a New York Times poll, nearly 9 in 10 (87 percent) support deporting illegal immigrants with criminal records. A majority (55%) supports blanket deportation of anyone who is here illegally.

The same poll indicated that Americans largely agree (72%) with Trump’s repeated assertions that government and the economy largely benefit a select group of elites at the expense of ordinary Americans.

Even Trump’s more isolationist agenda is well supported. 60% of respondents believe that the United States should pay less attention to global issues and instead focus on domestic issues.

To that end, Trump’s repeated promises to end foreign wars – without directly mentioning Ukraine – are likely to be well received. His promise to continue working to bring the Israeli hostages home was met with bipartisan applause, including from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

But this was not a call for Democrats to work with Republicans to find common ground, or search for a new spirit of cooperation and reconciliation. In fact, this was perhaps the clearest explanation of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda that I have heard to date.

As the above poll confirms, Trump’s agenda, as he described it in his inaugural speech, will almost certainly be met with great approval. It is hard to imagine Americans rejecting Trump’s calls to restore the southern border, reduce inflation, protect our economy from predatory states like China, or fight crime.

Clearly, his evocation of America’s manifest destiny, while noting Americans’ pioneering and ambitious roots, speaks to common themes that have animated us historically.

At the same time, I hope Democrats will make an effort to work with Trump in a way that some are doing, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), and House Minority Leader Rep. Hakim. Jeffries (D.N.Y.) did.

This may not be as strong a call for cooperation as I had hoped. But recognizing areas of common ground leaves open the possibility of achieving what Trump spoke so eloquently about today: making these four years the best in our nation’s history.

I remain skeptical that we will achieve high levels of cooperation or reconciliation. But I also hope that congressional leaders will work to achieve this goal, especially in light of the narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

Right now, I think it’s important for people of good will, in both parties, to recognize that Trump has made a real attempt to connect with a clear majority of the American people, through the policies and agenda that were approved in the election. .

I am hopeful that the incoming Trump administration and Democrats in Congress can move past the bitterness that was evident until the end, including some of Biden’s final pardons.

To be clear, both sides are responsible for moving the country forward, even while they are responsible for the current polarized environment in which we find ourselves.

Biden’s pardons for the family and former officials undermine the concept of a politically neutral administration of justice, as much as the expanded pardons and commutations that Trump issued to the defendants on January 6.

But let us hope that we can move forward, collectively and constructively, to implement Trump’s agenda in a way that allows the parties to cooperate, and that the broad masses of the American people can similarly embrace, beyond the 50 percent who voted for Trump.

While we hope and pray that this will come true, there is undoubtedly reason for cautious optimism today.

Douglas E. Schoen is a policy consultant and founder and partner at Schoen Cooperman Research. His most recent book is “The End of Democracy? Russia and China on the Rise, America in Decline.”