KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:
We're going to take a closer look at President Trump's inaugural address and what to expect from the new administration. NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson is here with me in the studio. Hi, Mara.
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Hi. How you doing?
MCEVERS: So let's talk about the tone of the speech. Inaugural addresses are often uplifting and positive, and the tone of this one did seem kind of dark, no?
LIASSON: Kind of dark - it was a continuation of his campaign speeches. And remember; he wrote that book "Crippled America." So he did paint a grim, almost apocalyptic vision. He talked about drugs and crime and gangs, mothers and children trapped in poverty, rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones.
You know, I can't think of another inaugural address that used the term American carnage, but it was a nationalist, populist, isolationist, protectionist speech. It had two clearly identified foils - one, the political establishment, who, as you just heard him say, protected themselves, not the citizens - and other countries, who he said are destroying our jobs and stealing our companies.
So it was a speech directed to his base, not necessarily to a wider group of Americans because that grim view of America I think resonates with the white, working-class rust-belt towns ravaged by deindustrialization or opioid abuse. Maybe it's not the same America that other people see who are beginning to enjoy the fruits of a growing economy and a low unemployment rate.
MCEVERS: You talk about other countries. He mentioned that. I mean these other countries are paying close attention to a speech like this. What was his message to them?
LIASSON: Sounded like he was saying, you're on your own. The only international goal that he laid out for the world's only democratic superpower was to, quote, "eradicate radical Islamic terrorism completely from the face of the Earth."
Now, this is a very big shift, and it's one the American people may be in the mood for after 16 years of foreign wars. He said from this day forward, it's going to be only America first. So it sounds like he's saying the U.S. no longer sees any overlap between its interests and the world interests.
U.S. foreign policy used to be based on the idea that the U.S. was willing to shoulder more than its fair share because a democratic, stable world was in our economic and national security interests. But now he says we're going to have to protect our borders from the ravages of other countries, and protection will bring us great prosperity.
MCEVERS: Trump transition officials had signaled that this was not going to be an agenda-driven speech, and it wasn't. But what did you hear today that gave you a sense of President Trump's priorities going forward?
LIASSON: The one priority he talked about was infrastructure. He did not mention the wall. He didn't talk about Obamacare. And that's where I think Trump's speechwriters are onto something. I think that Steve Bannon and Steve Miller understand that this is the most unifying part of his message. A lot of his white working-class base like some of the provisions of Obamacare, but everyone wants jobs. And infrastructure is a bipartisan - has a lot of bipartisan support.
MCEVERS: So we think that's what we're going to see in the first hundred days?
LIASSON: I think that's what he's going to try to do. A trillion dollars is hard. But today, remember; he was surrounded by the establishment, by a bunch of free traders, small government conservatives, and we heard him deliver the outside message. It was a pretty scorched-earth, anti-establishment message, but now he has to get the establishment behind him. And he has to play the inside game to get that infrastructure program passed.
Some of the things he and the Republicans want will be easy, like tax reform and deregulation. But to get a trillion dollars' worth of infrastructure, he will have to reach across the aisle. And a big question is - he seems to want to govern as a populist. He campaigned as one. But his cabinet has been criticized as faux populist, filled with Wall Street financiers and billionaires and CEOs.
MCEVERS: Finally, I mean you and I have talked about Trump's poor approval ratings. But the crowd today looked relatively thin compared to the last few inaugurals. How significant is that?
LIASSON: I don't think it's significant at all right now. I think he's going to get his first-year agenda through with maybe a few exceptions. Most presidents do when they have complete control of Congress. He may have low approval ratings and a small crowd, but remember; he won with 66 percent of Americans saying he was not qualified to be president. So maybe you don't need high approval ratings to be successful.
And he is inheriting the best economy that any president has inherited in 20 years - dropping unemployment and growing economy. And net illegal immigration from Mexico is zero.
MCEVERS: NPR political correspondent Mara Liasson, thank you.
LIASSON: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE THE SONG, "THIS IS THE DAY")