Editor's note

Experts in political rhetoric Christian Lundberg and Joshua Gunn break down Donald Trump’s first speech as president of the United States. They see glimmers of Reagan-esque optimism in the 45th president’s inaugural address but in the end Trump reverted to many of his themes from the campaign trail: gloom, division and scapegoating. “If there was uncertainty during the transition,” they write, “there's now even more uncertainty about how President Trump will govern.”

Over two hundred people were arrested Friday at inauguration protests. Today, as the Women’s March on Washington gets underway, philosopher Jeremy David Bendik-Keymer looks at how the power of protest can help save democratic values.

Nick Lehr

Editor, Arts and Culture

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President Donald Trump delivers his inaugural address after being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Patrick Semansky/AP Photo

Trump's inaugural speech: Is it morning or mourning in America?

Christian Lundberg, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill; Joshua Gunn, University of Texas at Austin

An address that's normally a call for unity instead mirrored the rhetoric of his campaign: unfocused, contradictory and divisive.

Politics + Society

  • The art of protesting during Donald Trump's presidency

    Jeremy David Bendik-Keymer, Case Western Reserve University

    On the face of it, our democratic values are in trouble. But we should be hopeful about the power of protest.

  • One way Trump is different from European nationalists

    Brian Porter-Szücs, University of Michigan

    An historian based in Poland sees many similarities between Trump and authoritarian nationalists like Poland's Jarosław Kaczyński. But the parallels only go so far.

  • Can Trump make real change as president?

    Sharece Thrower, Vanderbilt University

    A scholar of presidential power looks at personality, rationality and the institution of the presidency for clues about what the incoming administration can accomplish.

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