Coup D’etat in America?
- Submitted by: Love Knowledge
- Category: Philosophy
Donald J. Trump taking the oath of office to become the 45th President of the United States.
https://www.c-span.org/video/?421594-1/watch-recap-inaugural-activities
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Opinion
What we had hoped for on Inauguration Day was a traditional “Kumbaya” moment, even if just for a day, after one of the nastiest presidential campaigns on record.
Of course, new presidents are expected to sound resolute and even belligerent here and there in their opening speech. We would expect to see our new president draw the long face and utter solemn words against our foreign enemies, Russia perhaps, or North Korea. But the plurality of citizens who did not vote for him could be forgiven for expecting the balm of reconciliation. Instead, the long face, the jutting jaw, the angry rhetoric, were turned toward the country itself. Not only against Hillary Clinton’s voters, but against politicians in general, all past presidents included, indeed everyone who had just exchanged air kisses of their own with Trump.
He trashed the country as a whole in his speech and at one of the balls that followed the parade, he haughtily dismissed all those who had gathered to welcome him. “They are all very elegant people tonight,” he confided to his base, “but they are also very political people.” This putdown, presumably, was meant for only his closest advisors and donors, who of course are not at all political.
Gracious to the end, President Barack Obama treated Trump with deference through the transition and the inaugural. But it was almost too painful to watch as Michelle Obama had to bring herself to kiss on both cheeks the man who jumpstarted fake news with his campaign of lies against her husband in 2011 and kept defaming Obama to the bitter end.
Just last year he had proclaimed at a press conference in Florida, “I think President Obama has been the most ignorant president in our history…He has been a disaster as a president. He will go down as one of the worst presidents in the history of our country.”
Everyone was on tip-toe waiting for some words of unification. In retrospect, that was probably a foolish hope. Trump was always going to be Trump.
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