For more than half of the country, the last four years have been stressful to say the least. I’m not what one would consider a patriot, but the last four years made me embarrassed to be an American, even more so than before. But, as I write this, Donald Trump has vacated the White House, delivered a speech at a de facto send-off of his own devise, and boarded Air Force One for the last fucking time.
Relief.
With the inauguration but hours away, I find myself quite nervous. We underestimated white supremacists and their willingness to overthrow their own government. Donald Trump was their leader, but they’ve moved past him, even denounced him. Now, they remain a threat. The woman who stole Nancy Pelosi’s laptop was attempting to sell it to Russians. What Russians? I’m not sure, but I don’t think she knew either. Point being, these people are loyal only to themselves and their hatred. So, we must keep a close eye.
While tension is in the air over the safety of the inauguration in light of the January 6 capitol insurrection, today remains a celebratory day. With the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we mark the end of Donald Trump’s divisive and selfish presidency, and a return to civility in the White House. Civility elsewhere? Not likely.
As evident by the slew of executive orders Biden has slated to sign, there is a great deal of repair to be done. It’s like we rented an apartment, and the previous owner smeared shit on the walls. You can clean those shit walls, but you know someone willing to smear said shit is also willing to do worse. So, Biden and Harris have a lot of shit to clean up.
I’m excited for Biden and Harris to take office. I take comfort in knowing that Joe Biden has more empathy than he knows what to do with, something that can’t be said about his predecessor. I’m actually more excited about the historic juggernaut that is Kamala Harris, I think she’s the bee’s knees. But, I want to make one thing very clear, while Biden and Harris won, Trump still received 70+ million votes. That’s a lot of people who likely don’t feel represented by the new administration. We cannot gloat, we cannot alienate them. Those 70+ million voters didn’t all raid the capitol, and we can’t treat them as though they did.
Today is a day for all of us, even Trump’s supporters, to move on together. There’re always people who’re disappointed with election results, but you get over it and move on.
Christopher Goodlof 