I’ve worked in journalism for more than 4 decades (five, if you count an interview I did in high school with a WLS disc jockey named Larry Lujack).
This includes inaugurations.
Ronald Reagan was sworn in for a second term in 1985 when the temperature was 7 degrees and the event was moved inside to the Capitol rotunda. From the Department Of No Kidding (also called “DONK”), it’s different now.
I stood on a side street looking at the Capitol yesterday, while thinking of the crowds I saw during an inauguration, including the last time when the topic was how many more people showed up as compared to Obama. We should have seen this coming.
I remember conversations with complete strangers, many speaking in broken English, as we looked at the Statue of Freedom atop the Capitol Dome. It was a moment of “us” here in the U.S.
The optimist inside says it will happen again. The pessimist says yeah, but it’s going to take a long time. Put another way, different people need to talk to each other because though they are looking at the same thing, they are seeing it differently.
Our president (don’t do the “he’s not my president” routine) is ticked that social media platforms have banned him from talking to his supporters. Both Twitter and Facebook made the right call.
If President Trump has something of note to offer each of us, he can’t fall back on the “free speech” routine. First of all, his tweets are certainly not “of note” because they are based on fantasy land, no facts and BS. Aside from that, they’re fine.
In these remaining days, he has use of the White House briefing room where he can make a statement and walk out. Or he can make the use of the same venue , make a statement and then take questions. That’s freedom of speech too. I hope he does the latter. And we all know he won’t do that.
I think Alfred Hitchcock is running things for the next few days.
We all watched and listened to the coverage on January 6th, beginning with the esteemed Texas Senator Ted Cruz objecting to Arizona’s vote count supporting Joe Biden. That was a dumb move but he likes Donald Trump.
And his mentor, spoke to a crowd of believers from the White House ellipse saying the election was stolen and backed their plan to let their feelings known by marching to the Capitol.
You could see what was coming.
After the Capitol had been stormed by a bunch of white people, President Trump decided to send a video saying “go home” and “we love you” and yeah, the election was stolen.
I’m eager to see Senator Cruz tell us he was just doing his job for his mentor. I’m thrilled to see members of the White House say “enough” and resign. What we have seen is scary because the angry white people with cute banners and Confederate flags believe they are revolutionaries.
Note to the mob: you’re not smart enough to be a revolutionary. The 25th Amendment suddenly makes sense.
“Bye-Don”