Trump is hardly the first president to have his legitimacy attacked. He led the onslaught on President Obama’s legitimacy with his birtherism nonsense. But more than any president since Richard Nixon, Trump has shown himself incapable of turning the other cheek and converting doubters into allies. At a time that demands giant leadership, he’s behaving utterly small.

Trump presented such an outlandish and disturbing vision of America on Friday that his Inaugural Address cast more doubt than hope on his presidency.