As President Donald Trump on Monday swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and usher in a golden age of America, San Diegans watched. KPBS spoke to local voters about their response.
Joining the discussion are Allan Hoving, 68, an independent who voted Democrat; Liliana Armenta, 50, a registered Republican; and Eduardo Rosenfeld, 27, a moderate. A fourth panelist, a Democrat, had to cancel because of a family emergency.
What stood out to you most about the speech?
Hoving: One thing that really stood out to me was that Trump said the country is rapidly unifying.
Armenta: What stood out to me from Monday's inauguration speech was an overall theme of America for Americans.
Rosenfeld: What stood out to me in Trump's inaugural speech was his push towards the America First Movement, merit-based, kind of building back that merit-based society and reverting back to common sense.
Allan, President Trump's second term begins with expanded presidential power because of the Supreme Court's ruling on presidential immunity. After Monday's speech, he signed a flurry of executive orders including declaring an emergency at the southern border, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accords and trying to appeal birthright citizenship. Is there anything that you heard signaling that the president might actually temper some of his clout?
Hoving: Well, that'll be up to the two other branches of the government to temper whatever might be unconstitutional in the steps that he's taking. I was glad to see that he took the oath to protect and defend the constitution in that room filled with all of the officials and other important American citizens. So we'll just have to see how the branches and the democracy that that we have in this country constrains him or not.
Liliana, the cost of housing, the cost of groceries, high electricity prices are crushing San Diego's wallets. Homelessness is on the rise. President Trump said Monday that he wanted to focus on the economy. Are there any signs, any steps that you're looking for the president to take that will tell you that, 'oh, he's really going to deliver on reducing the cost of living for Americans?'
Armenta: Yes. Something I'm looking for President Trump to do is to reduce taxes, if not eliminate a lot of the taxes that we pay for would be something that would help everybody. Also, during his speech, he did focus on everything being in America and I'm really focused, hoping that the farmers, the water supply, drilling, everything. Just bringing money into our own economy will drop the prices down overall.
Eddie, so Trump declared a state of emergency at the southern border and reiterated yesterday his plan to undertake mass deportations of undocumented people which could affect hundreds of thousands of people in San Diego who work in agriculture, in construction, in our restaurants, in our schools and in our homes. How do you view that plan?
Rosenfeld: My family is Mexican. They come from Mexico City, and I'm first generation here. But I do understand that there's a crisis right now at both borders. And so I fully support anything that is going to document citizens coming in. It's not necessarily about pushing everyone out.
