Number 47 officially took office yesterday, and this entry will begin some periodic reflections on the state of the country.
I would rather that someone else would have assumed the mantle of president because Number 47 is an abhorrent human being, a person with no concept of how to lead a country, a person who puts profit and self-aggrandizement ahead of everything and everyone else.
After watching his first term, I expect that he will be everything he accuses his enemies of. I do not doubt that the U.S. will be worse off 1,459 days from now. How worse is the question? Is this whole movement a recreation of Nazism? Will we have to make choices about standing idly by and watching atrocities unfold or fighting against crimes against humanity?
At the inauguration, Elon Musk gave what some perceived as a Nazi salute. He claimed he was throwing his heart out to supporters.
Before taking office, Number 47 launched his own cryptocurrency, making $50 billion–on paper.
“Walter Schaub, former head of the Office of Government Ethics under Trump in his first administration, who left after criticizing Trump’s unwillingness to divest himself of his businesses, wrote to CNN: ‘America voted for corruption, and that’s what Trump is delivering,’” according to American historian Heather Cox Richardson.
He also pardoned about 1,500 of the Jan. 6 rioters. On Jan. 6, 2021, I watched those events unfold in real-time and have watched documentaries on the event. In a just world, Number 47 would be in jail as a traitor, not in a position to pardon people who did real, verifiable damage to the building and our democracy and whose actions led directly or indirectly to death and injury.
I could go on and on, but I won’t. Since November, I have deliberately taken myself out of the loop. I don’t go on X, I mostly go on Facebook for birthdays, and I don’t watch the news anymore. The election made me feel powerless and an outsider. I’ve lost faith in much of the Fourth Estate, and many of my fellow Americans, especially the millions who could not be bothered to vote. I’m disgusted that the Democrats let this happen. I gave them too much credit for unity and competence.
One day at a time now.
And I’ll continue to pray that Number 47 will somehow be transformed to behave in a truly Christian way and treat others as he would want to be treated and be infused with the concept of mercy.
The Q-View 