Trump will now be judged like any other politician

The abiding question for the 47th President of the United States of America is whether he now, after running against everything that counts as orthodox in the way of politics, has suddenly become a politician. Donald Trump is the candidate from beyond the beltway, the man who speaks directly to the public. Yet the conjuring trick, rhetorically, for every successful candidate is the extent to which he can maintain outsider status after an emphatic victory. That was the conundrum of Trump’s second inaugural. 

The inaugural speech in American political history is almost always the same, irrespective of party origin. It is a political ritual, the moment at which America enacts its transfer of power. The address is therefore usually at least in part self-referential; its main theme the democratic ritual itself. This takes us right back to the origins of the republic. In January 1801, Thomas Jefferson spoke of his hope that the fledgling democracy could overcome its weaknesses and survive.