One year ago, Donald Trump delivered his second inaugural address. He made promises he has since broken. He painted a future of safety and unity that all but his most ardent supporters now acknowledge was a lie. Yet, with everything that has happened over the last 12 months, one sentence stands out:
“Under my leadership, we will restore fair, equal, and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law.”
Nearly every word of that sentence is a lie. Every clause is a broken promise.
His betrayal of those 17 words sums up the cold cynicism of his administration. It is a quiet indictment of Republicans in Congress and a loud condemnation of his sycophantic cabinet. It explains nearly every grotesque action he has taken. Most importantly, it is a warning of the challenge we face over the next three years.
Let’s start with the simplest truth: Donald Trump aspires to be an authoritarian, not a leader. Leaders inspire confidence, foster cooperation and persuade people to follow. Authoritarians demand obedience and rule through fear. They do not seek to persuade; they seek to punish. Most importantly, they elevate power above principle.
Public threats against government workers, the private sector and our foreign allies do not convey the confidence of a leader. They reveal the petty insecurity of a wannabe dictator. Attacks on the media and the rule of law are not leadership; they are the tactics of tyrants.
Likewise, Trump has not promoted fair, equal and impartial justice. Quite the opposite: He has turned the Department of Justice into his personal law firm, using it to seek vengeance while pardoning his supporters.
“Fair” justice does not target political opponents while shielding allies. There is nothing fair about threatening critics, rewarding loyalty and signaling openly that accountability depends not on conduct but on allegiance. Justice for friends and punishment for enemies is the opposite of fairness. It is arbitrary and designed to intimidate.
“Equal” justice does not mean one system for powerful friends and another for everyone else. While everyday Americans face dire consequences for peacefully protesting, those involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection are pardoned. Anyone who has crossed the president risks investigation, while those inside his orbit break the law with impunity.
“Impartial” justice does not mean controlling who gets investigated and who does not. More importantly, it does not tolerate public threats against judges, prosecutors, jurors or law enforcement officials who refuse to bend to the president’s will. In just his first year, Trump has attacked the legitimacy of courts that rule against him, smeared investigators who follow the evidence, and demanded loyalty from every institution of government.
As for the “constitutional rule of law,” Trump has treated every constitutional constraint as an obstacle to be ignored, mocked or bulldozed. He has claimed powers he does not have while ignoring his constitutional obligation to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
He has stretched executive power beyond its breaking point and derided lawyers and judges for holding him accountable. He has tried to curtail the right to vote and has even lamented not seizing ballot boxes in 2024, while suggesting that perhaps we should not have elections at all in 2026.
Trump’s failure to abide by the 17 words in his inaugural address cannot be dismissed as a series of isolated incidents or rhetorical excesses. The erosion of justice in his first year has been deliberate, systematic and relentless. It shows up in efforts to pressure state officials, manipulate federal agencies, and delegitimize any institution that refuses to comply.
To be clear, the danger is not merely that the president lied in a major speech. The danger is that millions of Americans are being conditioned to accept the idea that justice is partisan, that courts are political tools, and that the law exists to serve those who control it. Once entrenched, that belief is extraordinarily difficult to reverse.
A democracy cannot function if citizens believe government outcomes are determined by brute power rather than the force of reason and principle. Courts cannot function if judges are treated as enemies for doing their jobs. Elections cannot function if losers refuse to accept results and instead attack the legitimacy of the system itself. The rule of law is not self-executing; it survives only if it is defended — actively and without apology.
This is why the betrayal of those 17 words matters so much. They were meant to reassure a nervous nation. They were meant to sound normal and presidential. They were also a lie.
All presidents enter office as part of a foundational bargain of American democracy: We grant them power but only if they act under law, not by force; through institutions, not intimidation; through accountability, not loyalty tests. That is what our founding document means when it says governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
One year later, that bargain at the heart of the Constitution is under assault by the very person sworn to uphold it. History will remember Trump for his contempt for justice and the rule of law — but history’s verdict is not enough.
