Let’s look at the America he promised and the America we got.
Two years ago this week, Donald Trump was sworn into office. His inaugural address on Jan. 21, 2017, painted a picture of America that was darker and more sinister than many of us had imagined. America, according to Trump that day, suffered from seething corruption in government, rampant criminality in the streets, and hopeless mistrust between its citizens.
For many of us, his description was an America we didn’t really recognize, a cesspool of greed and fear and hate. He also positioned himself as the man who would fix it.

Two years later, we are padlocked inside the longest shutdown in American history, with 800,000 federal workers who rely upon Trump’s government about to miss a second paycheck. Emergency food resources and domestic violence shelters are stretched beyond capacity. Air traffic controllers and pilots warn of horrifying risk for imminent crises. Members of the U.S. Coast Guard are now forced to get food from food pantries. Hundreds of federal workers protested Wednesday in the Senate, culminating in 12 arrests. Considering all of this, I decided to revisit the president’s speech to understand whether we’re closer or further from the apocalyptic vision he put forth in 2017.