It’s Tuesday, January 21. I’m Olly Wiseman and this is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. It’s good to be back.
Today we answer the big questions about the transfer of power in Washington. Among them: Will Trump fight lawfare with lawfare? Will TikTok survive? Is neoliberalism dead? Is Trump cool? Does that even matter? Are we at war with Panama now? And: that hat.
But first: the second inauguration of Donald Trump. Unsurprisingly, he did it his way. He danced onstage with the Village People the night before he took the oath of office. He moved the ceremony inside the Capitol because of the cold. He gave tech CEOs choice seating in the rotunda. And he delivered a speech that at times felt less like an inaugural address and more like a State of the Union / campaign speech mashup. Ignoring unifying inaugural speech traditions stretching back to George Washington, he trashed his political opponents and touted new policies that would bring about a “golden age.”
His proposals were a Trumpian mix of serious (action on immigration and inflation) and, well, strange. It’s the Gulf of America now, and we’re “taking back” the Panama Canal, baby!
His promised day-one executive orders included:
Declaring a national emergency at the U.S.-Mexico border, unlocking federal funding for a border wall, reinstating the “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers, and designating drug cartels as “global terrorists.”
Cutting regulations around oil and gas production by declaring another national emergency, this one on energy. (“We will drill, baby, drill.”)
Ending the environmental rules he calls “Biden’s electric vehicle mandate.”
Establishing an “external revenue service” to collect tariffs.
And ending the “government policy of trying to socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.” (You read about Trump’s repudiation of gender ideology in the federal government first in The Free Press on Sunday.)
Later in the day, Trump signed these orders. He also pardoned members of the mob who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization. Trump’s January 6 pardons went further than his closest allies appear to have anticipated. Earlier this month, J.D. Vance said that those who committed violence during the riot “obviously” should not be pardoned. But Trump has commuted the sentences of members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and granted “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
Back to Trump’s speech. If there was a theme, it was that his own astonishing political comeback portends a national revival, one that he’ll deliver.
“I stand before you now as proof that you should never believe that something is impossible to do,” he said. “In America, the impossible is what we do best.”
Trump went further. His comeback, and his country’s, he claimed, weren’t just linked but were providential. Recalling the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, he said: “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.”
Gone was the grim “American Carnage” theme of his first inaugural speech. He spoke of the many challenges that “will be annihilated by this great momentum that the world is now witnessing in the United States of America.”
It is a promise both populist and popular, a reminder of why Trump won.
It is also, as my colleague Peter Savodnik argues in his column today, the death knell of neoliberalism and the end of cool.
Here’s Peter: Trump’s critics, “the so-called progressive elites, are howling at the idea that this chump, who is so very unserious, is The One who will restore our seriousness. They miss the point. Only the brawling, bumbling ringleader of the great circus that is today’s Republican Party could break open our sclerotic overclass and lay it bare for the whole republic to see not simply its emptiness but its rot.”
Read Peter’s article, “Trump Is Uncool. And That’s a Good Thing.”
Joe Biden’s Unpardonable Last Act
Another promise Trump made was to “rebalance” the scales of justice. “The vicious, violent, and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department of our government will end,” he said in his inaugural address. This would normally sound like a partisan gripe, if it weren’t for the final presidential acts of his predecessor, writes Eli Lake in The Free Press.
Just moments earlier, Joe Biden had issued sweeping preemptive pardons for his siblings and their spouses. The outgoing president did the same for some of his successor’s high-profile opponents, including Anthony Fauci and Liz Cheney. The level of clemency is without precedent, writes Eli, and inconsistent with Biden’s 2020 promise to uphold the rule of law. Indeed, four years ago Biden expressed his concern that Trump would pardon his own political cronies.
Trump now faces a choice: continue Biden’s erosion of norms, or end the cycle of lawfare. Which will it be?
Read Eli’s full report on Biden’s final act as president—and how Trump might respond.
TikTok on the Clock
The first big internal MAGA dustup of Trump’s second term centers on TikTok, the Chinese-owned social network. Congress passed legislation that forced either the ban or the sale of the app, but on Sunday Trump gave TikTok an eleventh-hour reprieve announcing his intent to keep the app alive for 90 days. Hours after going dark, the short-video platform blinked back on.
This was welcome news to the crowd at a TikTok-sponsored inauguration party Sunday evening. Free Press reporter Olivia Reingold was on the scene and spoke to influencers who say: “We the people are for TikTok.” Read her full dispatch here.
Meanwhile, Joe Lonsdale, a prominent Silicon Valley supporter of Donald Trump, argues that the new president’s TikTok maneuvers undermine the rule of law. Now that Congress and the Supreme Court have weighed in, it doesn’t matter what Trump thinks of the TikTok ban. “The law must take effect,” writes Joe. “Because in our republic, it is the Congress that writes the law. If President Trump disagrees, he can try to change Congress’s mind.”
Read Joe Lonsdale’s op-ed: “Mr. President, Don’t Abandon the Rule of Law to Save TikTok.”
Fashion Police: Inauguration Edition
Okay, now the important stuff: the outfits. Suzy Weiss answers some of the really pressing inauguration questions: How did Melania pull off a hat that obscured half her face? Was there a hidden message in Trump’s choice of tie? And Lauren Sanchez’s white lace corset under a blazer: inappropriate or awesome? (Answer: both.) Read Suzy’s full fashion report here.
(Of course, the best-dressed crowd in D.C. this past weekend came to the party we threw. Read about that here.)
More Notes on the Inauguration. . .
Did the inauguration really need to be inside? Freezing temperatures forced proceedings indoors for the first time in forty years. But America’s ruling class wasn’t always so sensitive. As my colleague Chuck Lane points out, yesterday’s weather, frigid as it was, couldn’t hold an icicle to the 30-below wind chill at Ulysses S. Grant’s second inauguration on March 4, 1873. Chuck describes the frosty scene at that evening’s inaugural ball, held in a hangar-like temporary pavilion, in his book The Day Freedom Died: The Colfax Massacre, the Supreme Court, and the Betrayal of Reconstruction: “Dignitaries gamely shuffled across the dance floor in their overcoats, as horn and tuba players squeaked out music through the frozen valves of their instruments. Dozens of birdcages dangled from the ceiling; the canaries inside were supposed to accompany the orchestra. But the cold was so intense that the birds shivered, tucked their beaks under their wings, and then began to drop dead.”
In the beginning—i.e., last Friday—there was the $TRUMP meme coin. It’s kinda sorta like Bitcoin, only Trumpier. On the day it was issued, as traders anticipated the new president’s inauguration, it rose from $10 to $75, giving it a total value of more than $10 billion—billions, we should point out, backed by nothing but Trump’s considerable celebrity. It was yet another signal that his administration would embrace crypto. Then came the $MELANIA meme coin. Weirdly, its arrival caused the $TRUMP coin to drop down to $40. Then $TRUMP rose again in anticipation of the inauguration. Then, both the $TRUMP and $MELANIA coins fell by 30 percent as he gave his inaugural address. Strange. Or maybe not. The volatility of meme coins is a given—that’s kinda the point for traders—and anticipation is always a more powerful driver than the actual event. What does the future hold for $TRUMP and $MELANIA? Probably more extreme volatility. But maybe people will figure out the coins’ value is built on air and they’ll collapse—at which point, maybe the president might decide to regulate crypto after all.
Indicted New York mayor Eric Adams ditched MLK Day celebrations in his city to attend the president’s inauguration. It’s the latest act of Adams’ MAGA charm offensive, which has included a trip to Mar-a-Lago and a shift in his position on immigration, saying he is open to a rollback of sanctuary city policies. Many speculate Adams—who faces federal bribery and fraud charges—is angling for a pardon. Whatever Adams’ next chapter, his eyebrows will still be flawless.
Carrie Underwood improvised an a cappella performance of “America the Beautiful” after technical difficulties nixed her backing track. “You know the words—help me out here,” the country singer said, before launching into the patriotic anthem. . . and nailing it.
'Ignoring unifying inaugural speech traditions stretching back to George Washington'. Jesus Christ Oliver.....WTF have you been for the past 8 years. The corporate media, unelected bureaucrats, his political opponents, and their lunatic cult following, have literally been trying to lock the man up for the remainder of his life, bankrupt his businesses, ruin his family, and finally......blow his head off on live television and you're giving him shit for not delivering a Kumbaya message. GTFOH with that nonsense. Oh.....and here's the clown show over on Morning Joe trying to figure out how to spin Joe Biden's last minute corrupt pardons as justified. https://x.com/Evans_Wroten/status/1881336206237061526
'He also pardoned members of the mob who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021'. Mob? How about 'protesters'? There are hundreds of locked up US citizens who did nothing but walk into the Capital building that day who are being released thanks to DJT. Here's a thought.....try showing just a miniscule amount of curiosity as to who Ray Epps is, how many FBI agents/informants were embedded in the crowd, why Nancy Pelosi didn't deploy the national guard, why ALL the evidence surrounding the J6 investigation is now magically gone, or the fact that Joe Biden pardoned EVERYONE, including staff and police officers involved with the J6th investigation and now we'll never get to see what actually happened. Ever. Instead of 'Trump’s Back. What Now?'......it should read 'Trump’s Back. Now We Might Get To See All Biden's Corruption', but that ain't gonna happen now is it Mr Wiseman? Walter Kirn and Matt Taibbi did a great 'America This Week' live cast on it. I thought Walter Kirn was going to start breaking shit. Kirn and Taibbi are national treasures. https://x.com/Evans_Wroten/status/1881452170014609815
Over on Public, Michael Shellenberg is dropping truth bombs like it's 1945 Dresden. His latest piece is outstanding and you don't want to miss it. https://www.public.news/p/the-reason-democrats-are-so-quiet?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web×tamp=2.6
Remember the 51 former intelligence officials that all lied and were complicit in interference in the 2020 election? Well, they've all been stripped of their security clearances effective immediately. Also, Rachel Vindman, wife of Alexander Vindman, the Democrats’ star witness for Trump’s impeachment, seems to be butt hurt that Biden didn't include them in the pardon party. She was over on BlueCry whining about it. All I can say is.....cope.....and perhaps get a good attorney. https://x.com/GuntherEagleman/status/1881365772775387527
There are reports that President Trump will pardon Ross Ulbricht in the coming days. Welcome home Ross, and I trust the DOJ will safely return the 174,000 Bitcoin ($18.2 billion) back into your crypto wallet. Maybe TFP could reach out to Merrick Garland and ask if Ulbricht earned interest on this bitcoin over the past 12 years. https://x.com/amuse/status/1881623348742123705
And just like that, Harvard is back to the tired ole 'Hitler' bullshit. Hey Harvard.......2020 called and they want their virtue signaling back. https://x.com/amuse/status/1881488378048434190
Now I'm not really a religious guy, but Detroit pastor Lorenzo Sewell, who prayed at Trump's inauguration, had me wanting to run out and get baptized. You can't watch this and tell me Sewell ain't a stone cold boss on the pulpit. https://x.com/Evans_Wroten/status/1881418048118415573
Finally, I'm assuming Lebron James, JLo, Robert DeNiro, Whoopi Goldberg, George Clooney, Barbra Streisand, Ben Stiller, Tom Hanks, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Stephen King, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Kevin Spacey, Rosie O’Donnel & Lady Gaga are tying up loose ends with Allied Van Lines and are all headed to the airport this morning? https://x.com/Evans_Wroten/status/1881027678947684498
And remember......you don't hate the media enough - you think you do, but you don't. https://x.com/Evans_Wroten
Oliver - biased out of the gate. Let’s talk about Biden’s pardons of his family members fifteen minutes before Trump walked into the Rotunda.