I don’t know about you but, there were times I cried watching the inauguration of our 46th president. There was a message of hope, renewal, of emergence from the dark into the light. Nowhere was that more powerful than in presence and in the radiant poetry of Amanda Gorman.
For a day, the idea of America as a democracy, where all people are valued, have inalienable rights and are created equal, was realized.
We witnessed the swearing in of a Black, East Asian female Vice President by a Latino Supreme Court Justice. We watched this newly sworn in Vice President swear in Georgia’s first Black and Jewish senators.
We listened to Joe Biden embrace science and reality. We experienced empathy for those lost to the pandemic, movingly portrayed by the 4,000 lights glowing across The Lincoln Memorial Reflection Pool.
We experienced a man who understood the urgency of the moment: a raging pandemic, a teetering economy, a climate crisis as well as the need to address racial injustice and inequity. We saw a grown up truly concerned about the pain and turmoil we are in as a nation and the desire to do something about it. We witnessed a man who as a life-long public servant, understands and believes he works for the people of this country and is humbled by the opportunity.
Despite the insurgency on the Capitol just two weeks earlier and The Don’s existential threat to democracy, a transfer of power went off without a hitch. That being said, we have been put on notice: Our democracy can’t be taken for granted; it proved more fragile than[JAF1] anyone could have ever imagined. The reality is that despite Biden’s substantial win in the popular vote (over 150 million votes were cast), the election was decided by 10’s of thousands of votes in a few states. Had The Don won, given the complicity of his party, we would have seen our democracy dismantled.
Earlier that morning we watched the departure of the most dangerous, incompetent, vengeful and amoral president in the history of our country. We witnessed this pathological narcissist, this bloviating blob of grandiosity, shrink into the very small hands man that he is.
His last remarks at Andrews Air Force base were tame, a list of his amazing accomplishments. There was a gracious comment wishing the new administration luck. (Boy that must have been a tough pill for him to swallow.) No mention of Joe Biden’s name, as that would sting too much, but one more chance to distance the debacle of his inhuman response to the pandemic by calling it the China virus.
The line that caught my attention was “we will be back in some form.” A scary thought indeed. Would he change his color from orange to red? Would he come back as a Russian spy? Would he come back as the leader of a new party of White Supremacy?
Frankly, my hope is that he will come back in an orange jumpsuit behind bars. Between the looming prosecutions by District Attorney of NYC, Cy Vance, Attorney General of New York, Letitia James, The Southern District of New York (Remember The Don was named Individual-1 in the Michael Cohen/Stormy Daniel’s case) and in Georgia, (for election interference), we’ve got some options. I wonder what odds Las Vegas is laying for a jail sentence.
I’m thinking that instead of the traditional presidential library, which would be ludicrous given that The Don doesn’t read, we should create a building in which all documents are presented in bullet points and pictures. But what we should really build is a prison for him (and hopefully, other family members) to spend his remaining days in. Finally, there will be a building with his name on it that represents who he really is.
And then there is the Senate trial to convict him for leading an insurrection against his own government and banning him from ever running for public office again. Will 17 Republican senators support this?
Does Mitch McConnell have the guts to do the right thing? Given the pushback from other senators to strip him of his Minority leader status (that feels so good to say), if he pushes for conviction, me thinks he will cave. If anyone has any delusions that the Republican Party is going to “unify” the country, get over it, as they are already declaring war against the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach The Don. They are going further right and this unfortunately, will lead to more unrest, continued promulgating of conspiracy theories and a continued surge of White Supremacy.
On a positive note, The Don lost some luster with his buddies the Proud Boys. In dozens of conversations on social media sites like Gab and Telegram, members of the group have begun calling Mr. Trump a “shill” and “extraordinarily weak.”
Even before his departure, Nicholas Fuentes, the leader of America First, wrote in his Telegram channel that Mr. Trump’s response to the Capitol rampage was “very weak and flaccid.” “Not the same guy that ran in 2015.”
“It really is important for us all to see how much Trump betrayed his supporters this week. We are nationalists 1st and always. Trump was just a man and as it turns out an extraordinarily weak one at the end.”
Frankly, I can’t think of any two words that would cut to the chase of this heartless man than to be called “weak” and “flaccid.”
And yes Don, despite your delusions of grandeur, you are just man. A man who lost, and is incapable of accepting reality. You are the very thing you hate in others: you are a loser. Guess there will be no more winning so much that we will get tired of winning, you loser!
On another note, I was prepared to make the inauguration my last piece in this crazy journey but some have urged me to continue. With the impeachment trial looming, how could I abandon my mission? Hope you will continue to join me through the madness.
OMFG TRUMP - Tales From the Other Side 