OH, SAY, CAN YOU SEE? — The Weekly Opine

The inauguration resembled a tent revival with hyperbole-spewing ministers. (Photo credit Wesleyan Covenant Association)

Short-lived celebration

On Monday, we celebrated a great man worthy of the highest accolades as traditional Martin Luther King Day breakfasts and services were held across America. We paused to honor the legacy of a man whose influence on American society is enshrined like few others.

Regrettably, MLK Day was quickly overshadowed by a rotten man who is the antithesis of what MLK stood for. Like a carnival barker, Trump reached into his worn-out bag of lies, boasts devoid of details and fact-less grievances. Annoyingly, Trump’s musings arouse a significant portion of Americans, some greedy, some ignorant, some both. On the surface, Monday’s inaugural address was not as dire as Trump’s “American Carnage” inaugural speech in 2017. Still, it was disturbing.

There are essentially three categories of people who swoon for Trump. (Four categories if you count the six conservative Supreme Court justices who do Trump’s bidding.)

At the top of the heap are super-rich billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai. In the middle of the pack are power-hungry politicians and others who aspire to accumulate wealth and will do anything to obtain status. At the bottom of the pile are everyday folks, many barely scraping by. Trump’s spouting off gives “have nots” the salve they need to get through daily life. Trump’s rants permit his followers to scapegoat others, such as Democrats, progressive women, people of color, LGBTQ folks, and migrants.

On Monday, Rev. Franklin Graham and other ministers made fools of themselves. On Tuesday, Bishop Mariann Budde set the record straight. (Photos credit NBC News screenshots)

Clowning clergy

The inauguration was part tent revival and foisted a diet of clergy upon us. The parade of pastors violating the Good Book included Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Rev. Franklin Graham, Rev. Lorenzo Sewell and several other ministers. The “clowning” blasphemy displayed by the ministers was shocking. And I recalled last fall when Father Michael Pfleger of Chicago asked me, while discussing ministers who support Trump, “What Bible are they reading?”

Unfortunately, the overt attempt to tack America toward conservative, evangelical White Christian nationalism (more accurately, white male supremacy) as a governing principle is gaining traction. And it’s buoyed by fake Christians like Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Rev. Sewell, a Black minister from Detroit, recited key phrases from MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It was performative and felt like Sewell was “hustling” Trump, who afterwards hugged Sewell with more vigor than anything displayed between Trump and Melania (their air kiss was one for the ages). Sewell stands in a line of Black preachers, that includes Chicago’s Rev. Corey Brooks, who hope to hit the Trump jackpot. Same as the formerly authentic, now jive Snoop Dogg who performed at an inaugural event (gotta get paid!), Sewell and Brooks are like biblical lost sheep wandering in the wilderness of MAGA corruption.

On Tuesday, acting as a counter-balance to the fake Christianity displayed during the inauguration, D.C. Bishop Mariann Budde defiantly called Trump out as he fidgeted in a front row pew. Budde uncompromisingly asked Trump to have mercy on minorities, immigrants and LGBTQ people.

Divider-in-chief

Monday, Trump repeated his go-to dogma: America is a declining hellscape, and he will make America great again. Uninformed MAGAs believe Trump’s inaccurate portrayal and, like the 78-year-old Trump, are forgetful about what President Obama and President Biden faced upon taking the oath of office.

Obama took office facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Obama’s administration saved the economy from the Bush administration’s ineptness. Biden came in facing a pandemic made more deadly in the U.S. because of Trump’s lies, inaction and disorganization. Biden’s administration saved lives by quickly distributing Dr. Fauci’s vaccine. Both Obama and Biden handed Trump strong economies envied by the rest of the world. Last time around, Trump’s tax cuts for the rich drove up U.S. debt by a record amount and helped drive inflation higher.

This time around, Trump will benefit, among other things, from Biden’s infrastructure initiative that will provide jobs and boost local and state economies for years. Trump and Republicans who voted against the bill will no doubt take credit.

A convicted felon was just sworn-in as U.S. president. The self-proclaimed Christian refused to place his hand on the Bible. (Photo credit NBC News screenshot)

Here are a few more gems from Trump’s monotone (he almost seemed sedated) inaugural address:

Trump said he will unify us, bringing people together in a “Golden Age.” But then he said DEI is over and he plans to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Said he will rename Mt. Denali Mt. McKinley. Said we will “drill, baby drill,” apparently unaware the USA extracted more crude oil last year than any nation on earth.

Said he will close the border; unaware border crossings last year were at a 5-year low. Said he will seek peace yet will use force to take over the Panama Canal and Greenland. Said he will plant the American flag on Mars, seemingly unaware we haven’t returned to the moon or that two American astronauts have been stranded in space since June.

Trump lied again about tariffs and taxes being paid by other nations, which he falsely claims will result in lower grocery bills and reduced taxes here.

In an amazing whopper, Trump claimed no one has been fighting the fires in L.A. Amazingly, despite his campaign guarantee that he would end the Ukraine War on Day One, Trump made no mention of Ukraine. Amazingly, despite repeatedly bragging he will end Obamacare, Trump made no mention of the popular healthcare program. (Maybe he realizes his working-class MAGA folks will turn on him if he takes away their healthcare or raises the price of their $35 insulin.)

One actual crisis that Mr. Fix It Trump, the felon, won’t address is America’s world-class gun violence crisis. According to John Hopkins Public Health data, the leading cause of death for children ages 1-17 in America is firearms. Trump, afraid of the NRA, sits on his hands.

Trump capped his day by issuing pardons to 1,500 Jan. 6 rioters. He commuted Jan. 6 prison sentences. (If Jeffrey Epstein was alive Trump would probably pardon him, too.) As MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow pointed out, it’s a classic strongman tactic, practiced by Hitler and other authoritarians. Freeing violent thugs has two effects; thugs are emboldened to carry out more violence on behalf of Trump without fear of criminal liability, and the rest of the populace becomes afraid. Afraid to take jobs like election worker or judge or prosecutor. And the system breaks down, handing authoritarians and oligarchs control of everything.

While Trump did spring his fellow felons from prison, he cannot erase video that proves what he and MAGAs deny. Trump orchestrated a deadly, seditious insurrection on January 6, 2021. The video will live in infamy and perpetuity. Furthermore, Trump’s pardons put to rest the oft-repeated fables that Republicans/MAGAs “Back the Blue” and “Blue Lives Matter.”

Already, Trump’s oligarchy crowd led by Musk, and the fascism crowd led by Steve Bannon, are at each other’s throats. And already, Musk booted Vivek Ramaswamy off the Department of Governmental Efficiency cost-cutting team.

The pace laps are over. As of Monday’s inauguration, the green flag flies for Trump Shitshow Part Two.

The Biden’s last act was cozying up to fascists. (Photo credit NBC News screenshot)

Lower the bar

The sight of the Bidens, Kamala, Obama, and the Clintons at the inauguration was a stark reminder of what should have been but wasn’t. Of course, there were policy priorities. Still, Job #1 for the Biden administration and Democratic leadership was to prevent Trump from returning to the White House. They failed spectacularly.

By attending Trump’s swearing-in – did you notice he refused to place his left hand on the Bible? – softie Dems once again normalized Trump. While technically a peaceful transfer of power, what Democrats participated in was the unveiling of oligarchy and authoritarianism.

Someday, maybe Democrats will learn what Michelle Obama, Karen Pence and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez demonstrated by skipping Monday’s MAGA fascism spectacle. Maybe Democrats will resist Trumpism with the tenacity displayed by Bishop Mariann Budde as she took Trump to task.

In the current political environment, going high is not the answer.