ROGER KIMBALL: A Tale of Two Speeches:

Critics saw many malevolent things in Trump’s speech. I discerned a generous spirit tempered by realism about the way the world works and a sound appreciation of human psychology.  “At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America,” Trump wrote, “and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.”

One of the most poisonous features of contemporary social life has been been the insinuation of political correctness into the academy and politics. It has stifled honesty and transformed principled disagreement into rancid heresy that must be stamped out, not argued with. Trump explicitly challenged that toxic development, insisting that “We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.”

Trump’s rhetoric reminded me a bit of Reagan’s first inaugural speech, in which he explicitly stated, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Those heretical words were considered dark and scary as well at the time by the Northeast Corridor’s Democrat elitists and the entrenched bureaucrats of DC.