Weekly Commentary: For Posterity

2025-01-25 05:19:10 ET

Summary

• Donald Trump promised a 'golden age of America', as he used his inaugural address to unveil sweeping moves to undo Joe Biden's policies and reverse a 'crisis of trust' he said had engulfed the government.
• An unprecedented global financial Bubble unleashed destabilizing wealth inequality - within and between households, communities, regions, and nations.
• President Trump moved to obliterate the outer bounds of executive power Monday, igniting a series of constitutional showdowns that could curtail - or enable - his vision for a maximalist second term.
• President Donald Trump announced a joint venture to fund AI infrastructure worth billions of dollars with the leaders of Softbank, OpenAI, and Oracle.

For Posterity. He certainly wasted no time; hit the ground running - and swinging. President Trump is setting the standard for swift execution of campaign promises. And it's refreshing to see the President of the United States available to field questions from the press. There has been no shortage of vigor or fight in the first five days of what will undoubtedly be an historic four years.

January 20 - Wall Street Journal (Molly Ball): "If he came in the first time unexpectedly, he returned as a conqueror. And so Donald Trump stood in the Capitol's marble rotunda, surrounded by the titans of power and industry, taking the reins of a government he is more determined than ever to bend to his singular will. The newly sworn-in 47th president pulled no punches in his combative inaugural speech, decrying to their faces the 'radical and corrupt establishment' that he said had 'extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair.' He laid out a sweeping and disruptive agenda, vowing to liberate the country from its decadeslong malaise, restore its lofty ambitions and plant its flag on Mars. In a tone at once subdued and defiant, he enumerated his grievances while pledging to pacify 'a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable.'"

January 20 - Financial Times (Molly Ball): "Donald Trump promised a 'golden age of America', as he used his inaugural address to unveil sweeping moves to undo Joe Biden's policies and reverse a 'crisis of trust' he said had engulfed the government. The new president announced aggressive new steps to boost energy production and curb immigration as he vowed to quickly deliver on the populist and nationalist platform that swept him to victory… Within hours of the speech, Trump rescinded dozens of Biden's executive orders relating to everything from advancing racial equity and sanctioning extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank, to strengthening Medicaid and promoting access to voting… 'I was saved by God to make America great again,' he said, in a speech that included echoes of his dystopian description of 'American carnage' in his first inaugural address in 2017."

To offer context, I lean heavily on my macro analytical framework. The world has reached the fraught "terminal phase" of a historic multi-decade super cycle. A period of profound change: monumental technological advancement, policy experimentation, financial innovation, and economic development, with the Internet fundamentally altering social and political behavior.

An unprecedented global financial Bubble unleashed destabilizing wealth inequality - within and between households, communities, regions, and nations. The Internet ensures that myriad injustices, real and perceived, are constantly in our face. Misinformation, conspiracy theories and propaganda run amok. And as traditional norms fade into oblivion, a void is filled by pernicious endeavors for sport and profit.

A jumbled "world order" is at risk of detonating. Wars and the risk of catastrophic war. Climate change, the risk of cataclysmic change, and now commonplace natural disasters. Perceptions of the future have done a disorienting 180: From a tradition of optimism to gloom and foreboding. Populations are worried. People are angry and hankering to cast blame. Mainly, there is a cloud of corrosive insecurity that has distorted how societies function.

Donald Trump and the populist MAGA movement will be studied for generations. President Trump has a unique capacity to tap into anger, bitterness, and insecurity. He is the master at pinpointing sources to blame for the injustices that so many are feeling: immigration; a dysfunctional federal government; the "establishment;" "deep state;" corruption; liberalism; cultural decay; a history of leadership unwilling to demand the world stop taking advantage of the United States; participation in global institutions and arrangements to the perceived detriment of our national interests....

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