My inauguration log (Oregon time), starting on the bottom of the page.
9:20 AM (That’s it for now.) His inaugural 20 minute address is a mixture of campaign bullshit, attacks, platitudes, outright lies (heal our divisions).. "whether we are black, brown, or white, we all bleed the same blood of patriots” blah, blah, blah…. "from mountain to mountain, from ocean to ocean, hear these words, you will never be ignored again.” Any English teacher would red-line a dozen cliches… he ends with “yes, we will make America great again.” I’d give the speech and F, but then I am used to Obama.
9:05AM: He begins with another campaign speech about restoring America… fucker, at least he didn’t say make America great again… we are transferring power from DC and giving it back to you the people… fucker… small group in DC prosper. It is so far a campaign speech. America stank before but he will clean it up… that all changes starting right here and now… he talks about saving the country the way the allies saved Europe from Hitler… he describes the US like it has been in ruins…
9:00 AM: New president just air kissed his wife again.
8:50 AM Next, Chuck Schumer clearly was sending several messages to Trump here:
My fellow Americans, we live in a challenging and tumultuous time. A quickly evolving, ever more interconnected world. A rapidly changing economy that benefits too few while leaving too many behind. A fractured media, of politics, frequently consumed by rancor. We face threats foreign and domestic. In such times, faith in our government, our institutions, and even our country can erode. Despite these challenges, I stand here today confident in this great country for one reason: you, the American people.
We Americans have always been a forward-looking, problem-solving, optimistic, patriotic, and decent people. Whatever our race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, whether we're immigrant or native-born, whether we live with disabilities or do not, in wealth or in poverty, we're all exceptional in our commonly held yet fierce devotion to our country. And in our willingness to sacrifice our time, energy, and even our lives to making it a more perfect union.
Today we celebrate one of democracy's core attributes, the peaceful transfer of power. And every day we stand up for core democratic principles enshrined in the Constitution, the rule of law, equal protection for all under law, the freedom of speech, press, religion. The things that make America, America. And we can gain strength from reading our history and listening to the voices of average Americans. They always save us in times of strife.
One such American was Maj. Sullivan Ballou. On July 14, 1862, when the North and South were lining up for their first battle, a time when our country was bitterly divided and faith in the future of our country was waning, the major of the second Rhode Island our country was bitterly volunt letter to his wife, Sara. It is one of the greatest letters in American history. It shows the strength and courage of the average American. Allow me to read some of his words which echo through the ages.
My very dear Sara, he wrote, the indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days, perhaps tomorrow. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about or lack of confidence in the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American civilization now leans upon the triumph of the government and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us, through the blood and suffering of the revolution. And I am willing, perfectly willing, to lay down all my joys in this life to help maintain this government and to pay that debt. Sarah, my love for you is deathless. It seems to bind me to you with a mighty cables that nothing but overwhelm nip tense can break, and yet my love of for your is country com like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly upon with all he's chains to the battlefield.
Sullivan Ballou gave his life on the battlefield a week later at the first Battle of Bull Run. It is because Sullivan and countless others believed in something bigger than themselves, and were willing to sacrifice for it, that we stand today in the full blessings of liberty, in the greatest country on Earth. And that spirit lives on in each of us. Americans whose families have been here for generations, and those who have just arrived, and I know our best days are yet to come.
I urge all Americans to read Ballou's full letter. His words give me solace, strength. I hope they will give you the same. Now, please stand while the associate justice of the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, administers the oath of office to the vice president of the United States.
8:45: AM The choir is singing and when they cut to Trump you can see him trying to look serious but I bet he is thinking “let’s just this bullshit over with and swear me in."
8:40 AM Hispanic minister appropriately reads Mathew Fifth:
The BeatitudesHe said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people insult you,
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world.A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, and glorify your Father in heaven.
8:35 AM TRUMP WALKING TO PODIUM Give a thumbs up, and then a fist up - what a narcissistic putz. Then he gives an air kiss to his wife
8:30 AM I wish a could read lips… Barack and Michelle just had a brief exchange. It looked serious - perhaps intimate… now Trump walking alone .. Trump does not look comfortable in his own skin. Chris Mathews: I bet he has a great speech.” Fuck you Chris.
8:15 AM: Bush is smiling, probably thinking about how so many people are starting to look back at his presidency with fondness.
8:10AM Barron is bringing up the rear going down the stairs by himself looking out of it - MSNBC commentators noted this, then standing alone behind the other adult children of his father says Rachel Maddow… he is being ignored by his sisters…….everyone was standing, but he sat down, then apparently someone got him to stand up.
7:45AM: I think I may let me beard grow until the Democrats are back in power. Maybe I’ll see how my hair looks if I let it grow too… maybe I can approximate the look in the MSU 1969 ID photo I use on Facebook. >>
7:20 AM Whatever the etiology of Trump’s psychopathology — and my hunch is is overdetermined by lots of what analysts call “bad shit” in private — we see the results. Tony Schwartz who spent so many hours with him said he never saw Ivanka. Trump never talked about her. In the so-called auto-biographical “The Art of the Deal” his children only got one brief mention. He said that Ivanka and her husband only discovered how “close they were” to Big Daddy was when there were millions of dollars in it for them.
7:10 AM One of the Trump biographers who spent time with him was asked how he thought Trump would handle unpleasant truth coming from his advisors appointees. He said it would be processed in a kind of Trump brain machine and emerge as whatever Trump wanted it to be. All the biographers who had access to him, and Tony Schwartz who spent a year and a half with him writing Art of the Deal agree that Trump is totally unsuitable to be president. This is not only because of his mental instability, but also because of his work habits.
7:00 AM I understand the aspect of human nature to look on the bight side of things, even on Trump and what his reign will do to all the things we like about the direction America has been headed during the eight years of Obama. This is leading to self-deceptive and sometimes nearly delusional thinking among the public; but the media is complicit in this — the word many of us have been using in NORMALIZATION. As therapists we were taught to avoid using the word normal, even as all of us psych majors took at least one undergraduate psychology course called abnormal psychology.
6:30 AM On not being able to fall asleep until 1:00 AM and waking at 6:00 == I will need a nap sometime… the first thing I see with the lightweights on Morning Joe is more attempts at optimistic normalization…. stories of how Trump is two people, a genuine nice guy interest in praising others, hail fellow, well met…. without realizing they are describing what I and others have called a Jekyll Hyde, a sociopathic personality.