Submitted by Michael Snyder via The End of The American Dream blog,

For the first time in decades, it feels like morning in America again. I was quite young when Ronald Reagan was president, and I only have vague memories from those days. But I do remember the extraordinary optimism that his leadership inspired, and my hope is that Donald Trump's leadership will be just as inspirational. For such a very long time, it has seemed as though a giant dark cloud has been hanging over America, but now a new day is starting. If Donald Trump can be president of the United States, it seems like just about anything can be possible. And even though our nation is facing incredibly serious challenges, could it be possible that we can find a way to turn things around if we all work together?

Seeing Trump on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Thursday was a very special moment. Like Lincoln, Trump represents a once in a generation hope for real change…

Kicking off three days of carefully orchestrated inaugural proceedings infused with pomp and guided by precision and protocol, the president-elect reveled in the moment and delivered a tribute to the populist movement that propelled him into office. "We all got tired of seeing what was happening and we wanted change, but we wanted real change," Trump said on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. "It's a movement like we've never seen anywhere in the world, they say."

Inaugurations are a time for hope, and tens of millions of us are hoping that the election of Trump will mean a better future for all of us.

But of course so many among the elite hate him with a passion, and there are many in both parties that will be fighting him every step of the way.

Can Trump really be successful in such an environment?

We shall see, but what seems clear is that he doesn't plan to change who he is now that he will be residing in the White House, and this is clearly rankling a lot of people…

Donald Trump enters the White House on Friday just as he entered the race for president: defiant, unfiltered, unbound by tradition and utterly confident in his chosen course. In the 10 weeks since his surprise election as the nation's 45th president, Trump has violated decades of established diplomatic protocol, sent shockwaves through business boardrooms, tested long-standing ethics rules and continued his combative style of replying to any slight with a personal attack — on Twitter and in person.

In his inaugural address, Trump will plead for national unity, and that is a good thing because our nation is deeply divided right now. As a new Rasmussen survey has discovered, most of the country has a very strong opinion about him either one way or the other…

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 52% of Likely U.S. Voters share a favorable opinion of Trump, with 30% who have a Very Favorable one. The president-elect is viewed unfavorably by 48%, including 37% with a Very Unfavorable view.

But the good news is that Americans are feeling quite good about life overall these days. In fact, an astounding 80 percent of all Americans are content with "the overall quality of life" that they are enjoying at the moment…

Americans are feeling far more upbeat this January than they were a year ago, especially about the economy, according to Gallup's annual "Mood of the Nation" poll, which is conducted each January. The most recent poll, conducted Jan. 4-8, finds a whopping 80 percent of Americans are satisfied with "the overall quality of life," up four points from a year ago.

If Donald Trump can bring the nation together, perhaps the next four (or eight) years can be a time of renewal for America.

An immense amount of damage was done during the Obama years, and Trump has a massive amount of work ahead of him. But he seems to have a boundless amount of energy, and he is accustomed to only sleeping a handful of hours a night.

Let us pray that Trump and his team will make good decisions and will set this nation on the right course, because we are in desperate need of a turnaround.

Earlier today, I came across a piece from an anonymous source that is entitled "Twas The Night Before Inauguration". The anonymous source indicated that it was okay to share this with others, and so I thought that I would share it with all of you…

Twas the night before Inauguration, and up in the tower,

The Donald reflected on his newfound power.

The conservative masses had come out in force,

And delivered a victory that would chart a new course.

The snowflakes were shell-shocked with tears in their eyes,

The media lied to them . . . What a surprise.

They had been promised a Hillary win,

But the criminal Clinton took one