Thiessen: Donald Trump finally gets his honeymoon

Watching Donald Trump taking the oath of office Monday, I was struck by the differences between his 2017 inaugural address and today. Yes, the venue was different – the Capitol Rotunda instead of the Capitol steps – but so is the political moment.

Eight years ago, there were riots in Washington as protesters set vehicles on fire, smashed windshields and broke windows. Today, the streets of the nation’s capital are quiet, filled with patriotic Americans in MAGA gear who have come from across the country to celebrate the inauguration.

Eight years ago, Trump had lost the popular vote, so Democrats treated his election as a fluke, or even the product of a conspiracy with Russia. “Not my president,” went the cry on the left. His 2016 opponent, Hillary Clinton, declared Trump an “illegitimate president” and suggested the election was “stolen.” Trump’s opponents launched the “resistance” and an unprecedented campaign of personal destruction. Trump survived it all: the Mueller probe, two impeachments, 91 indictments, civil suits and even two assassination attempts.

Not only did he survive, but Americans delivered him a swing-state sweep, a decisive popular-vote victory and unified control of the federal government. There’s no way to dismiss him as an accidental president. He has staged the greatest political comeback in American history. His opponents are defeated and demoralized.

And Trump finally is getting what he was denied eight years ago: a political honeymoon.

Trump is seizing the moment with promises of swift action. Eight years ago, his inaugural address was seen as unnecessarily dark. But today, in place of “American carnage” was Trump’s promise that “the golden age of America begins right now.”

“A tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world, and America has the chance to seize this opportunity like never before,” Trump said, adding that “America will soon be greater, stronger and far more exceptional than ever before.”

He promised a “revolution of common sense,” which he felt a divine calling to usher in. Describing how an assassin’s bullet ripped across his ear in a Pennsylvania field, Trump declared, “I felt then, and believe even more so now, that my life was saved for a reason: I was saved by God to make America great again.”

He then listed a litany of actions he would take to spark “a thrilling new era of national success” and “bring back hope, prosperity, safety, and peace for citizens of every race, religion, color and creed” – from securing the border to unleashing U.S. energy production, tackling inflation, reclaiming the Panama Canal and planting the American flag on Mars. “The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation, one that increases our wealth, expands our territory, builds our cities, raises our expectations, and carries our flag into new and beautiful horizons. And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars.”

At times, the speech sounded more like a State of the Union than an inaugural address, with less poetry for the ages than policies to meet the moment. But Americans want action, and Trump promised to give it to them.

The question is: Will Democrats work with him to deliver on any of the agenda he laid out? That is another difference from eight years ago: Many Democrats are publicly declaring their willingness to do so. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-New York) pledged “to find compromise on parts of the president-elect’s agenda.” Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-New Jersey) said, “There are plenty of places where we can find common ground.” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) asked, “Aren’t we here to help the lives of the American people?” Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona): “The fact that we work across the aisle really matters to people.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) even published an op-ed – on FoxNews.com no less! – declaring that when Trump acts as an “antiestablishment populist prepared to take on the political class and act on behalf of working families,” then “I will gladly support him.”

Whether they follow through remains to be seen. After the past eight years, I will never underestimate the depths to which opponents of Trump will go to stop him. But Trump might finally get the presidency he should have had in 2017.

Trump has survived everything his adversaries have thrown at him, emerging unscathed and with a popular mandate. “Here I am,” Trump said in his address. “The American people have spoken. I stand before you now as proof.”