Must-Read: Ed Luce: President Trump’s Speech Puts the World on Notice

Must-Read: Donald Trump leads America’s heel turn: the American Century as we have known it since 1940 is over:

Ed Luce: President Trump’s Speech Puts the World on Notice: “Combative address will go down as a turning point in America’s postwar role…

In case there were any lingering doubts about the sincerity of Donald Trump’s “America First” campaign, he laid those to rest the moment he swore the oath of office. His brief inaugural address was perhaps the most xenophobic in US history. The 45th president’s one specific foreign policy promise was to eradicate Islamist terrorism “from the face of the earth”. His only other message to the rest of the world was to put it on notice that America would take precedence again after an age in which the US had “defended other nations’ borders” and subsidised their armies. That age was over, he said… a turning point in America’s postwar role — and quite possibly its death knell.

The contrast with Barack Obama’s inaugural address in 2009, in which he promised Iran he would “extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist”, was Manichean. Mr Obama spoke to a snow-filled scene of up to 2m people — something that Steven Spielberg said would have been impossible to set up for a movie. Mr Trump spoke to crowds a fraction of that size on a dreary Washington day. That should perhaps be no surprise. He comes into office with the lowest approval ratings of any US president in modern history — twenty or so points below what is typical, and considerably below Mr Obama’s outgoing ratings. Unlike Mr Obama, he will inherit an economy in reasonable shape and no large scale US military wars. But the biggest contrast was in their tones. Mr Obama radiated hope. Mr Trump channelled rage…