Reflections on the Inauguration of Donald Trump
The unthinkable has happened. Donald Trump, New York wheeler-dealer, con man, misogynist , bigot, egomaniac, American fascist, is now President of the United States. He became President less than two hours ago as I write this post. He now has his hands on the controls of enough nuclear warheads to destroy all life on earth several times over. He has the power to issue executive orders that will stop all progress toward climate health, remove protections of minorities who work for government contractors, and do so many more destructive things; and he will use that power to make the world a less heathy, less safe place for all of us. He makes promises he cannot keep. No, Mr. Trump, you will not "bring back" the industrial jobs we have lost, for you cannot single-handedly change the economic structure of the world. Trump's America first, last, and always ideology will not make the United States a better place, for the whole world today is so interconnected that you cannot isolate our country from other countries without disastrous consequences. Trump says in one breath that NATO is obsolete and with the next promises to respect our country's traditional alliances. I want to believe that the American people are not as stupid as he thinks we are, but he's probably right that we're stupid enough for him to get away with his massive dishonesty. We did, after all, make him president. Donald Trump becoming President of the United States is a tragedy the ultimate consequences of which will unfold in the coming years. One thing we know for sure: We have elected a man who not only doesn't understand the Constitution of the United States but probably doesn't believe in it. A man who never thought he'd actually become President and who would much rather be a dictator than the head of the executive branch of the government of a constitutional republic. With the possible exceptions of November 22, 1963, and June 6, 1968*, this is the saddest political day of my life.
My daughter and several Facebook friends tell me don't wallow in sorrow. Have hope. Gird up your loins and prepare for battle, in effect if not in those precise words. Prepare to work for what is right against a government that will now mostly do what is wrong. They have a point, I suppose. There is great work to be done to protect vulnerable people about whom President Trump gives not a damn. There is work to be done to protect the environment as much as we can against rape by the greedy that Trump will now surely unleash. There is work to be done to protect women's rights and LBGT rights against the destructive acts of government that now doesn't believe in them. There is work to be done to protect people with disabilities against the words and acts of a President who only mocks them. There is work to do to try to stop Trump from getting us involved in yet more foreign wars. Yes, there is much work to be done; and we must do it.
We must do the work. Someday. Today is not that day. Today is the day for coming to a true understanding of just what has happened to us, or rather what we have done to ourselves, and to mourn it. Today is the day for understanding that Donald Trump is not different from other American presidents in degree but in kind. We have never had a true fascist as president before, but we do now. The bitter, fearful, angry, racist, misogynist, and utterly uninformed and unthinking parts of the American electorate have never before been able to make a fascist president, but they have now. The divisions in our country have always been there, but they have never before elected such an utterly unqualified man as president. Trump is disqualified from being president both by knowledge and experience on the one hand (he has none) and by temperament and personality on the other. He is an ignorant bully. He knows next to nothing of how government works. He knows even less about how the world and America's foreign relations work. He knows nothing of the limitations of power, both presidential power in our government and American power in the world. Today is the day for understanding all of that and grieving it. Grieving the loss of American ideals. Grieving the loss of American dreams. Grieving the suffering that the Trump administration will surely inflict on our most vulnerable citizens. The work starts tomorrow. The grief starts today.
*The assassinations of John and Robert Kennedy.
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