The right is ecstatic about the end of the Biden era – but remains polarized about some of Trump’s decisions. Americans really do inhabit two worlds: some shed tears of sadness at the advent of Donald Trump’s second presidency. Others cried, too – with joy.
Across the conservative, “post-liberal” and alternative media spheres, journalists, pundits and some social media circles celebrated the end of the Biden era with the enthusiasm of rebels toppling the relics of a collapsing dictatorship. As Trump swore his presidential oath, the writer Walter Kirn, a pro-Trump, anti-establishment agitator on X, grandiloquently declared: “This is a revolution against a corrupt ancien regime.”.
That sentiment was widely shared, with rightwing pundits framing Trump’s inauguration as “regime change” and “revolutionary” and mocking the “panic attacks” of liberal late-night hosts and MSNBC anchors. The conservative City Journal described Trump’s inauguration as “exhilarating”, arguing it was “safe to be a white male again” (while also criticizing Trump’s speech for failing to offer “any gestures of reconciliation toward the previous administration”).
Some commentators triumphantly proclaimed Trump’s return part of a broader rightwing populist sweep across the world. A New York Post op-ed a couple of days before inauguration argued that Trump’s “smashing victory is inspiring conservative parties in Canada, Europe and elsewhere to get off the mat and fight to reverse their countries’ progressive slide into oblivion”. The Liberal party in Canada is expected to suffer a cratering loss to the Conservatives this year.
