Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

Imagine a Gracious Trump

Friday's inauguration could have more protesters than celebrators. It didn't have to be that way.

January 20, 2017 at 12:30 PM UTC

Corrected

January 20, 2017 at 6:36 PM UTC

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Reaching out.
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

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When Donald Trump takes the oath at noon Friday to become the 45th U.S. president, he will face a more bitterly divided country than at any time in more than 40 years. Scores of senators and representatives will boycott the inauguration, and there may be more protesters than celebrators.

More than a little of the blame lies with Trump. If over the past 10 weeks he'd behaved like his predecessors, reaching out to opponents and showing some grace, it wouldn't have been as bad. He didn't, and it is.