The First Inaugural
Address
of
Donald J. Trump
First
Draft
Chief Justice Roberts, fellow Americans and people of Russia and the
world, thank you.
Here I am presented with an opportunity of
speaking before a huge audience. I am now able to confirm what I had felt,
namely, that I have a talent for public speaking. My voice has become- so much
better that I could be well understood, at least in all parts of the giant halls
where my friends are assembled. No deal could have been more pleasing to me
than this one; for now, I am in a position to save to a place which had been very
special to my heart: America.
We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national
effort to rebuild our country from its desolate ruins and
restore its golden glory for all of our people.
Together, we will determine the course of our America
and our world for all eternity. We will face challenges,
we will confront hardships, but we will get the job done.
Every four years, we gather on
these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful that President Obama
and First Lady Michelle Obama decided to step aside throughout this transition.
Now for the first time I learned to know men
and I learned to distinguish between empty appearances or brutal manners and
the outward appearance of real inner nature of the insiders.
Today's ceremony, however, has
very special meaning because today, we are not merely transferring power from
one administration to another or from one party to another, but we are transferring power from
Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people, so you could bestow it upon me. You conferred upon me a huge mandate to scrub and disinfect the
walls of Washington.
For too long, a corrupt group of
lobbyists and lawmakers in our nation's capital have reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost. Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth.
Politicians prospered, but the jobs left and the factories closed. The establishment protected itself,
but not the citizens of our country. Their victories have not been your
victories. Their triumphs have not been your triumphs. Their
wealth is not your wealth. And while they celebrated in our nation's
capital at parties with balloons and tiny cone-shaped party hats, there
was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.
That all changes starting right here and right now because this
moment is your moment, it belongs to you; tens and tens of millions of you.
It belongs to everyone gathered here today on the
white way and everyone watching all across America. This is your day. This
is your celebration. And this, the United States of America, is my country.
What truly matters is not which party controls our government,
but whether our government is controlled by the people who cede
authority to the ultimate savior.
January 20th, 2017 will be remembered as the day the people crowned the new ruler of
this nation.
The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no
longer.
Everyone is listening to you now. You came here today by the tens of millions, flooding
this Mall with cheering, smiling faces; supporting me and to become
part of a historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen
before. Idealism does not
represent a superfluous expression of emotion, but in truth it has been, is,
and will be, the premise for what we designate as human culture...Without his
idealistic attitude all, even the most dazzling faculties of the intellect,
would remain mere intellect just like
outward appearance without inner value, and never creative force. The purest idealism is unconsciously equivalent to the deepest knowledge.
outward appearance without inner value, and never creative force. The purest idealism is unconsciously equivalent to the deepest knowledge.
At the center of this movement is a crucial conviction, that a nation exists to serve its loyal citizens. Americans want great exclusive schools
for their children, safe neighborhoods free of undue distractions for their
families, and good, hard-working jobs for
themselves. These are just and reasonable demands of righteous people, servants, and a
righteous public.
There are certain truths which stand out so
openly on the roadsides of life that every passer-by may see them. Yet, because
of their obviousness, the general run of people disregard such truths or at
least they do not make them the object of any conscious knowledge. People are
so blind to some of the simplest facts in everyday life that they are highly
surprised when somebody calls attention to what everybody ought to know.
For too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: mothers
and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; starving
waifs scuttling from filthy corner to filthy corner pan-handling for scraps; rusted
out factories scattered like abandoned tombstones across the landscape
of our nation; rancid water spewing from toilets across the soiled floors of
squalid apartments and homes; an education system flush with cash, but which
leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; unrepentant
scorching fires consuming whole villages; unwavering quakes engulfing innocent businesses; and the
crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed
our country of so much unrealized working potential.
This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.
We are one nation and their pain is our pain. Their
tragedy is our tragedy. Their dreams are our dreams. Their debts are our debts. And their
success will be our success. We share one heart, one lung, one home,
and one glorious manifest destiny. The oath of office I take today is an oath of
allegiance by all Americans.
For many decades, we've enriched foreign industry at the expense
of American industry; subsidized the armies of other countries, while allowing
for the very sad depletion of our military. We've defended other nations'
borders while refusing to defend our own. The former president
increasingly used his influence to create conflicts, intensify existing
conflicts, and, above all, keep conflicts from being resolved peacefully. For eight
years this man looked for a dispute anywhere in the world that he could use to
create political entanglements with American economic obligations to one of the
contending sides, which would then steadily involve America in the conflict and
thus divert attention from his own confused domestic economic policies.
And he spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has
fallen into disrepair and decay. We've made the wealthy wealthier, other
countries rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has
dissipated over the horizon like the setting sun at the approaching night
in a dimming world.
One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with
not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that
were left behind. The wealth of our business class has been impeded by
inconvenient and irksome taxes and regulations. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes
and then redistributed all across the world.
But that is the past. And now, we are looking only to the
future. For the future is the past
plus the present one day more at a time.
We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in
every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power. From this day forward, a new vision
will govern our land, that all men are created equal. From this
day forward, it's going to be only America first, America first. From this
day forward, all will bow to the ultimate authority.
Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign
affairs will be made to benefit those who employ American
workers and American families. We
must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our clothing, stealing
our companies and destroying our jobs.
Protection will lead to a great wall of prosperity
and strength. I will fight for you with every breath in my body and I will
never ever let you down easily.
America will start winning again, winning like never before. We’ll make
deals, winning deals. Deals that no one
could ever believe possible.
We will bring back our jobs, good hard-working jobs. We will
bring back our borders and take back our country from the illegals and squatters. We will bring back our wealth from those
who take from the hands of the job creators. And we will bring back our
dreams, dreams of a time of purity and righteous morality.
We will build new roads and highways and bridges and airports
and tunnels and railways and golf courses all across our wonderful nation. We will get
our people off of welfare and back to work, rebuilding our country with
American hands and American labor and serving the job creators in every way.
We will follow two simple rules; buy American and hire
American. We’ll eat our corn from the windswept plains of Nebraska and our
orange juice from Florida and our apples from New York. We’ll buy our cars from
Ford and our gas from Exxon.
We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the
world, but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations
to put their own interests first. We
do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as
an example. We will shine for everyone to follow.
We will reinforce old alliances and form new
ones and unite the civilized world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we
will eradicate from the face of the Earth. Truly,
this earth is a trophy cup for the industrious man. And this rightly so, in the
service of natural selection. He who does not possess the force to secure his
Lebensraum in this world, and, if necessary, to enlarge it, does not deserve to
possess the necessities of life. He must step aside and allow stronger peoples
to pass him by.
At the bedrock of our politics will be a blind
allegiance to the United States of America, and
through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each
other. When you open your heart
to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.
The Bible tells us how good and pleasant it is when God's people
live together in unity. Secular schools can never be tolerated because such a school has no
religious instruction and a general moral instruction without a religious
foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion
must be derived from faith . . . We need believing people. When
America is united, America is totally unstoppable.
There should be no fear. We are protected and we will always be
protected. We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and
law enforcement. The application of force alone, without support based on a spiritual
concept, can never bring about the destruction of an idea or arrest the
propagation of it, unless one is ready and able to ruthlessly to exterminate
the last upholders of that idea even to a man, and also wipe out any tradition
which it may tend to leave behind.
Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger. In America, we
understand that a nation is only living as long as it is still starving. We will
no longer accept politicians who
are all talk and no action,
constantly complaining, but never doing anything about it. Instead,
we demand huge, transforming ideas implemented without wasteful debate or idol [sic]
conversations.
The time for empty talk is over. Now arrives the hour of action, and my
first action will make you forget the failures of the past eight years. Uncertainty
cripples any serious and firm resolve and results in opinions swaying from one
side to the other, leaving any decision that is made weak and half done, even
when it comes to the most essential measures of self-preservation.
Do not allow anyone to tell you that it cannot be done. All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic
eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity by the ruthless
Goddess of Distress or by the torch of the spoken word cast into the midst of
the people. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of
America. We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again. We will
demand unity.
We stand at the birth of a new millennium,
ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the earth from the miseries of
disease, to embrace the golden host, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of
tomorrow. To the Christian doctrine of
the infinite significance of the individual human soul and of personal
responsibility, I oppose with icy clarity the saving doctrine of the
nothingness and insignificance of the individual human being, and of his
continued existence in the visible immortality of the nation.
A new national pride will stir ourselves, lift our sights and
heal our divisions. Unity only comes when minds are turned to the power of the
nation.
It's time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never
forget, that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red
blood of patriots.
We all enjoy the same glorious freedoms and we all salute the
same great American flag. We know that the more we work, the more we
get. Those who have no understanding of the world
around them have no right to criticize or complain.
And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl and squalor of
Detroit or the wind-swept, barren plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same flaming night
sky, they will their hearts with the
same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty
creator.
So to all Americans in every city near and
far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, from ocean to ocean, hear
these words: You will never be
ignored again.
Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams will
define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will
forever guide us along the way. You
can fight only for something you love. You can love only what you respect. You
can respect only what you know.
Together, we will make America strong again. We will make
America wealthy again. We will make America proud again. We will make America
safe again. We will make America the most feared nation in the world again. And yes,
together we will make America great again. We sing with the clarity of proud
voice the words of that modern country spiritual, “There ain’t no doubt I love
this land. God bless the U.S.A.”
Thank you. God bless you. God bless me. And God bless America.
Thank you.
God bless America.
Note to KellyAnne: Want to
sneak in this quote from AH but can’t firgue out where to stick it.
Few teachers realize
that the purpose of teaching history is not the memorizing of some dates and
facts, that the student is not interested in knowing the exact date of a battle
or the birthday of some marshal or other, and not at all—or at least only very
insignificantly—interested in knowing when the crown of his fathers was placed
on the brow of some monarch. These are certainly not looked upon as important
matters. To study history means to search for and discover the forces that are
the causes of those results which appear before our eyes as historical events.