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Trump’s Inaugural Facade
It was real but it’s about what is behind it
I watched the inauguration. In recent years, I’ve drawn it. But this time, I could’t do it, nor could I draw a political cartoon. Just the above simple drawing of resistance made sense.
Before the actual swearing in in the morning, President Biden pre-emptively pardoned a number of people, including Liz Cheney and Dr. Fauchi and the entire January 6th Committee. Then, moments before Trump became president, it was announced in the media that moments earlier, Biden pardoned five members of his family: his brother James B. Biden; Sara Jones Biden, James’s wife; Valerie Biden Owens, Mr. Biden’s sister; John T. Owens, Ms. Owens’s husband; and Francis W. Biden, Mr. Biden’s brother.
“My family has been subjected to unrelenting attacks and threats, motivated solely by a desire to hurt me — the worst kind of partisan politics,” he said in his last statement as president. “Unfortunately, I have no reason to believe these attacks will end.”
I find this to be chilling.
Tickets were hard to come by for this inside inaugural, but billionaire tech men Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos were in the audience. And of course Musk. NYC Mayor Eric Adams was there, although I didn’t see him. According to the observation of CBS News anchor Gayle King, he must have been in the minority, because she said that while scanning the attendees, there were very few people of color.
My observations of the event from the CNN stream: George Bush keeps winking at people, and looking like he wants to crack a joke, and, after a while, he had slid down in his seat, as if watching a football game on a large-screen tv. Doug Emhoff looked perpetually like he might do something rash. Hillary looked annoyed, Barack looked like he was just going through the motions. Bill looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Kamala looked ticked off. I am all for the peaceful transfer of power, but this must have been very difficult for so many to attend.
Trump’s inaugural address was less a speech than a redo of one of his rallies…
