As Trump begins his second term in the White House, an eerie feeling of deja vu
Inaugural speech sounds like a copy of what the US president said eight years ago, but now China is better prepared to meet his challenges
When American presidents are inaugurated for a second term it is usually four years after their first began.
Donald Trump is an exception because he is only the second to serve non-consecutive terms, after he lost his initial re-election bid. His inaugural address in Washington this week came eight years after his first in 2017.
Comparison of the similarities and differences in the two speeches can reveal a lot about the state of the nation then and now, how it sees itself and its focus in the years ahead. The similarities are striking.
The vision projected in the slogan “Make America Great Again” remains a work in progress. The first time around Trump told his compatriots they had won their country back from an establishment cut off from the grass roots and unfocused on the well-being of the nation or its people.
He talked about other countries taking advantage of the United States, subsidising their own industries at the ultimate cost of US business.
His promise to the American people included rebuilding infrastructure and bringing manufacturing jobs back – with China and other exporting countries in mind ahead of a trade war waged with tariffs.