the ultimate krav MAGA

In the run-up to Trump's inauguration, and all over social media, the hashtag #MAGA has been rampant. It stands for "Make America Great Again," and with Donald Trump's now having taken the oath of office, #MAGA becomes something like a new national motto.

The text of Trump's inaugural address is here. As some commentators have noted, it lacks the blizzard of first-person-singular pronouns that throng in Obama's speeches.

The mainstream media, true to form, quickly got busy beclowning themselves with their bitter and often fearful commentary as they watched Trump's ascension alongside the rest of the world. Chris Matthews and Rachael Maddow, for example, traded Hitler and Mussolini references, seemingly incapable of understanding that their thoughts and behavior are contributing to the long-overdue, well-deserved death of the MSM. Other liberal-media figures have tossed around the adjective "dark" to describe Trump's speech, which began with a promise to "[transfer] power from Washington, D.C. and [give] it back to you, the American people," as well as "That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you."

My impression of Trump's speech was that it didn't, at first, seem to echo the can-do, bootstrapping ethos of JFK's "ask not what your country can do you for you" moment: Trump seemed almost to be saying, "You, the people, have been neglected for too long, and that ends now, for I've come to rescue you." I found that a little disturbing, but at some point along the way, Trump's speech morphed from a litany of paternalistic "you"s to a series of more life-affirming, synergistic "we"s. Trump then listed a raft of goals and achievements that "we" will accomplish together, so perhaps, buried somewhere in the text, there was indeed an implied "ask what you can do for your country" after all.

Far from being dark, Trump's speech strikes a note of hope and optimism for the future. The MSM think the speech is ominous because Trump's time in office bodes ill for them, so perhaps the MSM aren't wrong, from their selfish perspective, to see storm clouds on the horizon. One of the most entertaining aspects of Trump's presidency will be his constant circumvention of the arrogant journalistic gatekeepers via Twitter and YouTube (if only the man can control his errant, arrant spelling!), and his constant pranking and head-faking of the press to show what dupes they are.

I wish the man luck. I didn't vote for him, but Donald Trump is my president for at least the next four years. As even Matt Damon, that liberal to end all liberals, says: a successful president is good for all of us. May Trump put our country on a better economic and geopolitical course. May race relations improve under his watch as they failed to do under race-baiting Obama. May enlightened self-interest, at the national level, be the order of the day because, in the end, national self-interest isn't selfish at all—not when it focuses on the welfare of a third of a billion people. #AmericanLivesMatter.

ADDENDUM: this is pretty damn funny. Also on a humorous note: a comparison of Trump's inaugural address with Bane's brief speech from "The Dark Knight Rises."