“Even
the heavens wept. As Donald Trump stepped forward to become America’s
45th president the cold shower that broke over Washington offered no end of
metaphors. His address,
however, was literal to a fault. There was no higher calling, no sense of a
greater purpose, no florid imagery or impassioned idealism. This was as crude
and unapologetic an appeal to nationalism as one might expect from a man
incapable of rising to an occasion without first refracting it through his ego.
“It
is said that presidents campaign in poetry and govern in prose. Trump
campaigned in graffiti – the profane scrawls of a mindless vandal – and, if his
inaugural address was anything to go by, may yet govern in tweets – the
impulsive, abbreviated interventions of a narcissist.
“Were
this a reality TV show, we would have switched off by now. All the better
qualified, more sympathetic and empathic characters have been eliminated. The
last man standing is a scheming, pathological misanthrope whose disrespect for
the rules alone should have disqualified him. The producer would have been
fired; the advertisers would have bolted. Nobody in their right mind would want
anything to do with it.
“But
there is a difference between reality TV and something surreal that you can
watch on TV. From the robed Supreme Court chief justice holding aloft Lincoln’s
Bible for Trump to swear on to the gathering of former presidents, the entire
purpose of an inauguration is to celebrate a mature democracy. As the White
House is bequeathed to the popular choice, it’s intended to symbolize
continuity and stability – a common destiny in a shared polity.
“Friday
achieved the opposite. To watch Trump take the oath was to bear witness to
democracy’s fragility. It marked not simply the transfer of power from one
leader to another but the erosion of the very values that give that power
legitimacy.
“That
frailty stems not from any question about whether Trump
won the election but how he won it and what that victory portends. There is
more to democracy than elections and more to elections than simply voting.
Democratic traditions are underpinned by norms that he not only disregarded (on
that score he would not be the first) but brazenly and gleefully violated – advocating
violence at his rallies, haranguing
the media,
fueling racial animus, religious
exclusion and misogyny.
“As
such, his inauguration
represents an indictment of an entire political culture. It leaves condemned a
Democratic party that could not defeat him, a Republican party that would not
disown him, a mainstream media that failed to scrutinize him and a social media
that spread his lies far faster than any scrutiny could travel. All were found
wanting. Now all will be tested.
“This
is no local problem. Those who take to the streets
across the globe to demonstrate Trump’s presidency over the next few days
would do well to stay there and resist his counterparts in their own backyards.
Where this particular threat to democracy is concerned, America is by no means
exceptional.
“In
Washington, the moment was all the more disorienting because of what it
replaced. Barack
Obama’s approval ratings are higher now than they have been for some time,
reminding us of the stratospheric expectations of that freezing
January day when he first took office eight years ago. It’s as though his
presence could never compete with his promise or his
passing.
“To
watch him accompany Trump through the process was to see the civility of
pageantry triumph over the candor of politics. Several of those with front-row
seats, from both parties, had concluded Trump was unfit for the office he now
holds. ‘When making life or death or war or peace decisions,’ Michelle Obama
said six weeks before election day, ‘a president just can’t pop off or lash out
irrationally … If a candidate traffics in fear and lies on the campaign trail …
well that is the kind of president they will be.’
“That
is the president who was sworn in on Friday. No amount of pomp and finery can
mask that. That is why what was billed as a ceremony felt more akin to a
charade. It is also why many in the US, and beyond, are not simply concerned
about what comes next; they are genuinely terrified. An impulsive braggart and
bigot is now in control of the world’s most powerful military and economy. Fear
and malevolence won. The hands that once
grabbed pussy now have access to the nuclear launch codes”—Gary Younge.
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