Hail to the chief

Twelve years ago today I sat down with my partner Mike to watch the inauguration of Barack Obama.

This was the moment I started crying.

Aretha Franklin belting out a song the lyrics of which she actually believed for the first time in her life. (I just viewed it again and I cried again.)

I didn’t watch Obama’s second inauguration in January 2013. I sure as hell didn’t watch the inauguration in January 2017. (Instead I got up early enough to write a rant while Obama was technically still President.)

This morning I did get up early enough to watch the inauguration of Joe Biden.

It wasn’t Jennifer Lopez inserting a line in Spanish into her rendition of This Land Is Your Land that brought the first tear to my eye this morning. It wasn’t Lady Gaga singing the national anthem (although that did unexpectedly bring a tear). It was the first shot of Joe and Jill Biden walking together towards the Capitol steps.

It was the sheer relief.

The Tangerine Wankmaggot has skulked off to Florida. Good fucking riddance.

The first tear was actually yesterday when I watched this.

After nearly a year of hopeless incompetence leading to so many unnecessary deaths, the victims of the pandemic and their families were finally acknowledged and honoured. Class act. The contrast is gut wrenching.

Full marks to Jill Biden for the choice of final singer at this morning’s inauguration. Lady Gaga? Far out. Jennifer Lopez? Fantastic. But all they did for any MAGA heads who might have been watching was confirm their worst fears that the “freaks” and “foreigners” were back in the spotlight.

Then, after Biden was sworn in, out came Garth Brooks to sing Amazing Grace. Garth Brooks! Definitely not a freak or a foreigner. I didn’t know until I just looked it up that Brooks took some flak from many fans four years ago when he declined to sing at the Wankmaggot’s inauguration (along with pretty much every other famous artist in the US). And self-identifying-Republican Brooks is taking more flak for singing today. Good on him.

By the end of the day President Biden will have signed multiple executive orders. According to CNN:

“With the stroke of a pen, he’ll halt construction of Trump’s border wall, reverse his travel ban targeting largely Muslim countries, and embrace progressive policies on the environment and diversity that Trump spent four years blocking.

“Biden also plans to reverse several of Trump’s attempts to withdraw from international agreements, rejoining the Paris climate accord and halting the United States’ departure from the World Health Organization — where Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, will lead the US delegation.”

Heaven it ain’t. If the damage wrought by the Wankmaggot can ever be undone, it will take years. But it does feel a lot less like hell.

Meanwhile, in a last act of bravado before stealing off into the Florida sunshine with his tail between his legs, the Wankmaggot threatened to start his own political party, the so-called “Patriot” Party. (And we all know what he and his supporters mean by “patriot”, don’t we?) Pure braggadocio? Perhaps. But have at it, sez I. A guarantee that the Democrats will be in power for many, many years.

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PS See my friend Jane’s comment below and click on the link. Fantastic.