I can finally unclench my jaw. Trump is out of the White House. There were no riots, no deaths today.
Let’s take a few moments to appreciate this peaceful inauguration day, because this peace may not last too long.
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I was crying watching Kamala Harris take the oath of office.
Such a relief. And so many fabulous coats! As I type this Harris is about to swear in the 3 new Democratic Senators, so Mitch McConnell is about to be gone from the majority leadership.
A few miscellaneous thoughts on the inauguration:
One of my friends managed to blag an invite to the inauguration. With the covid and the riot they’ve re-seated everyone. So she’s in BLM plaza. Which she’s really loving.
It was such a relief to look at the news and see Biden had been sworn in. I appreciate people have all sorts of thoughts about him. But there was a sudden feeling of, maybe not quite actual rescue, but when you’re lost at sea and an aeroplane flies over and makes it clear they’ve seen you. I guess it’s hope. Not just for the US, but the rest of the world. With certain people now gone; will that see populist authoritarian ‘rule breakers’ going out of fashion? One must hope so.
As for the inauguration, I’ve been most impressed with the logistics and the behind the scenes stuff*. I love how quickly the White House staff obliterated any trace of Trump and got the new paintings up.
Oh, and they also spent nearly half a million dollars on disinfecting the place. For the covid obviously, but that also seems an apposite bit of symbolism.
[* I wonder how someone felt when, exactly at Noon, the marine carrying the ‘football’ just walked out of the room]
Things are not so peaceful in qanon land. Thread:
https://twitter.com/apark2453/status/1351944552295223296
Reading all that, I found that I wasn’t feeling as much schadenfreude as I had anticipated. Mostly, I felt anger at the people who have exploited these fools. Huge damage has been done, and will continue to be done, but the people behind it will just walk away and find a new grift, or a new way to radicalise the gullible. Some of the qanon followers, realising how much they have thrown away for a lie, may commit suicide. Others will be recruited by white supremacist groups, who were waiting for this moment. The most deluded will continue to “trust in the plan” for a while longer.
As for the inauguration, I must admit I cursed when Biden said: “And my first act as president, I’d like to ask you to join me in a moment of silent prayer to remember all those who we lost this past year to the pandemic”. Would it kill him to say “prayer or contemplation”? Is it so hard to remember the non-religious? They’re American too, you know?
Love the metaphor of being lost at sea and seeing the planes fly overhead. I don’t feel a ton of relief because the actual rescue attempt is still to come and it will be very difficult.
The sense of relief, of calm, of being able to take a deep breath, is glorious. We have pulled the cork on a better bottle of wine than usual, and toasted the President and Vice President of the United States.
@Moggie
I share your frustration re: religion in the inauguration. I felt like they had a lot of religious involvement in what’s Gould have been a secular ceremony, and I believe firmly in separation of church and state.
As for QAnon, I’m seeing various calls to have sympathy for the true believers because they were deceived. I don’t feel sympathy, because these are people who wanted Trump to be their God-emperor and wanted people like me dead. These were people who would sacrifice everything, including the American people, for the dictatorial fantasy. I’m sure some were taken advantage of, but they endorsed and supported white supremacy and fascism all the same and I can’t really feel sympathy for that.
I had feeling not much would happen since a lot of the people that stormed the capital got arrested and a little bruised up and shot at that they wouldn’t do anything because they learned that while they aren’t treated as bad as blm that they aren’t immune to consequences. A lot of trump supports were really surprised that anything bad happened to them because of their actions.
@Moggie
Recruited? They’re already in at least one white supremacist group, any recruiting has already happened. Indeed, they were all white supremacists before Q showed up at all, else they wouldn’t have bought into yet another rehash of the fucking Blood Libel. They didn’t buy into Q because they’re fools, they did it because they’re fucking monsters.
@Naglfar, just to be clear, I don’t feel sympathy for them either. If they were victims, they were willing victims, and willing to cause a lot of harm, up to and including mass executions. I do feel sympathy for friends and family members: so many times, over the past few years, we’ve read posts saying “I’ve lost my father / sister / best friend to this cult”, and in many of those cases the damage will never be repaired.
@Alan, wasn’t Biden president from the moment he was sworn in, which was several minutes earlier? So the football ought to have left Trump around 11:48, in a sort of “spooky action at a distance” event.
Biden seems to have hit the ground running:
@ moggie
We had been chatting about exactly when terms start. I thought it might mean that technically Kamala Harris would have been Trump’s VP for a few minutes. Had fantasies about her suddenly pulling the 25th.
However it transpires that the actual transfer of power takes place at Noon.
The oath has to be taken before then as it’s a condition precedent for office.
Before he enters the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:—”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
On one occasion arguably there wasn’t a president for 24 hours because the inauguration actually took place on the 21st of Jan. Now, if an inauguration needs to be shifted because it’s the weekend they do a private swear and then a public one later.
As to the footballs, the normal procedure is that at noon (behind a pillar at the capitol) the previous marine guard just hands it across to the new one. I wondered why they don’t keep the same guy but apparently it’s because they’d have been privy to a lot of conversations in the previous administration; so confidentiality.
That will have happened with Pence to Harris. But for Biden they used the spare football they keep for the designated survivor. Biden will have been given his ‘biscuit’ earlier in the day; and exactly at noon, Trump’s code was cancelled and Biden’s activated.
There was an interview with one of the guys who carried the football and he said they practiced this stuff day in day out.
I held my breath a few seconds after President Biden was sworn in, because I was braced for something ugly to happen, but no.
Later I was chatting with a friend of mine who’s desi, and we had a fun time joking about how her chittis were totally flexing their humblebrags about “Kamala, you know, Shyamala’s oldest, she’s Vice President of the US….”
@Moggie
I know you weren’t saying you were sympathetic, I was referring more broadly to a general trend of things I’d been seeing on Twitter about that topic. I agree, I can feel sorry for the families but don’t feel sorry for willing executioners.
@Victorious Parasol
Same, I kept expecting someone to attack, and am very glad the ceremony did not involve violence.
Well, there was one death today: the death of Trump’s political career.
Good riddance.
I believe another, competent, populist will rise in Trump place and be even more of a threat. But for now, let’s celebrate our victory. And I am thankful for all the community organizers and activists that helped.
@Dalillama:
“Fool” and “fucking monster” aren’t mutually exclusive. These people are both. Which is pretty common: how often have you encountered a Nazi who wasn’t also a colossal idiot?
I was referring to this NBC report:
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/some-qanon-followers-struggle-inauguration-day-n1255002
Yeah, the Q crowd are already “radicalized”, and we’ve seen how dangerous some of them can be. But this recruitment effort could round up some who have, so far, not gone beyond spewing hateful shit, and lead them down the paramilitary route.
@Alan:
I’d like to see them gaming that out. “Steve, it’s a goddamn briefcase. I think I’ve got the hang of handing over a briefcase sometime over the past two dozen exercises.”
Yay it’s done now to see what happens next.
hilarious, sorry not sorry
“Mods, why hasn’t Biden been arrested yet?” ?????
hahahaa
(okay also on a serious note, as a New Yorker I can confirm; Chuck Schumer also sucks ass)
@ moggie
Yeah.
“Ok Steve, this time, let’s assume there’s a NE crosswind of 15 knots; and an Alsation has somehow got hold of the bag…”
ETA: “Right, when I said offer him a biscuit, that’s not the one I meant.”
Jesus, today was a lot. 4+ years of trauma caught up with me, I guess.
It feels surreal, hard to believe I survived. Hard to believe I only lost one friend (and that was far too many, but still, hard to believe). Hard to believe Trump didn’t say his goodbye with a nuclear launch order, and I’m not a pile of cinder in what’s left of my apartment.
What we just lived through was a genocide. Trump’s government very deliberately sabotaged crisis medical care for millions of people, and 400,000+ died – mostly Black, Latine, Indigenous, and/or disabled people by enormous margins. Trump and his cohorts knew exactly what they were doing.
I wasn’t at the top of Trump’s shit list, but I was on it. So yeah. Still trying to wrap my head around all the feelings, and it’s a lot.