As residents of Capitol Hill, living within sight of the capitol in a normally sedate historic residential neighborhood, we’ve had a front-row seat on many memorable happenings. We find ourselves participants in, as well as observers of, national events. My own house, built in 1895, has afforded a convenient vantagepoint. I feel privileged to have been within walking distance of Obama’s inaugurations, Supreme Court demonstrations, and the women’s march held the day after Trump’s inauguration. We Hill residents have also witnessed the torching of our local drug store during a past disturbance and heard shouts and sirens far into the night of Jan. 6 during the Trump mob’s invasion of the capitol. Streets and bridges were closed, streets blocked off. More troops were on hand for Biden’s inauguration than in the Middle East and Afghanistan put together. State capitols also prepared for violence. We feel relieved that Mr. Trump and his family and associates have finally departed. They were fish out of water in this town. Now the Trump Hotel lobby looks forlornly empty. Folks have asked me why, after more than half a century, I still live in my venerable home? Where else would I rather be?
Yet, the proximity of our neighborhood to the
capitol turned out to be a cause for dismay among local Air B&B hosts, https://www.npr.org/local/305/2021/01/08/954954032/trump-insurrectionists-lodge-at-d-c-airbnbs-much-to-washingtonians-distress
The attack on the US capitol was an event that shocked the entire world, similar to the impact of 9/11, though this was a home-grown, not a foreign, threat. I appreciate the many messages received from near and far, from folks around the world realizing my physical proximity to the capitol and concerned for my safety. It’s truly a blessing to have so many friends and advocates everywhere, in Canada, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. To a person, each expressed shock and puzzlement at how such a destructive and inept man as Donald Trump ever ended up in the US presidency. It’s a question many Americans have asked as well. Certainly, the tyranny of a minority has proved even more problematic than more traditional majority control.
During recent House impeachment hearings, designed to keep Mr. Trump from seeking public office again, the nation’s divisions appeared in sharp relief. Some Republicans, perhaps to fend off primary challengers, complained of a double standard, blaming Antifa for the capitol assault and falsely accusing the “Democrat” Party of calling for defunding the police. Some praised Trump for building “the wall,” reducing taxes, and moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. Others pointed out that more than 74 million Americans had actually voted for Trump. Too many voters and even some of their representatives still believe that Trump actually won and that the election was stolen from him (how?). Still, during debate, decorum was observed by using traditional terms of address: Madam Chair, Gentleman, Gentlewoman. Throughout it all, Trump’s familiar twitter megaphone had been eerily silenced. After hours of testimony, 10 House Republicans joined Democrats to impeach Donald Trump for the second time. Senator Mitch McConnell, who had steadfastly supported Donald Trump throughout, has now signaled permission for Republican senators to vote for impeachment and also seems to be trying to ease Trump out of the Republican Party altogether.
Our very anomalous electoral system had allowed a man with a 3 million vote deficit to occupy the presidency to begin with, though his deficit of 7 million votes this last round finally proved decisive. Not only does Trump bear responsibility for inciting the capitol riot, but his downplaying of the virus has led to a huge surge in deaths and suffering. Taiwan a nation of 24 million located in proximity to mainland China where the virus first emerged, because of mask mandates, cell phone tracking, and quarantining of new arrivals, has had only a reported 855 cases and 7 deaths.
Our country and the world suffered unnecessarily from four years of Mr. Trump’s erratic and destructive leadership, showing that the Electoral College has outlived its usefulness. Trump made a final trip to the border to tout his “wall,” making canned remarks no longer magnified by his twitter megaphone. Companies supportive of Trump belatedly began pulling away as his brand became increasingly toxic. Mike Pompeo, making a final world tour to burnish his credentials, found himself shunned in Europe.
After a punishing year 2020, with Covid, job losses, and Donald Trump desperately clinging to his presidency, Americans had been looking forward in 2021 to a brand new president, new Senate, and new vaccines. But the attack on the capitol showed those expectations were premature. While we still dare hope for a return to normal, we now realize it will take more time to reach a new normal. And Donald Trump is still a danger as his conspiracists have not given up. The internet makes mass recruitment of extremists possible. Trump and his true believers will continue to make trouble. https://www.yahoo.com/news/after-failed-attack-on-capitol-q-anon-asks-if-it-can-still-trust-the-plan-165944608.html
Mr. Trump has shown himself to be a rare man completely devoid of empathy, a quality that even animals, at least primates, seem to possess. Lying has been habitual for him. Trump’s handlers and enablers among lawmakers and his staff must also share the blame. As Moynihan once said, in a democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts—not even Kellyanne Conway’s “alternative facts.” Trump appears to lack the ability to anticipate the perceptions, viewpoints, or actions of others, a really rare deficit in a public figure, though he is well aware of his own magnetic hold on his loyal cult followers. He is unpredictable and unbound by rules, making him especially dangerous, as we have witnessed.
A NYT article speculates about the
future of the Trump brand. https://www.yahoo.com/news/urgent-reckoning-trump-brand-195212237.html
Do the capitol invaders now feel betrayed by Trump, who has since denied inciting them? Yet, probably some were never serious ideologues, but folks simply caught up in the excitement of the moment and the thrill of entering a forbidden place.
Ivanka backtracked on her announced plan to attend Biden’s inauguration, doubtless due to threats from her father.
A number of Trump coloring books have emerged, often showing him as a super hero with big muscles and big hands.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump, cut off from social media, must have a very itchy twitter finger. But to the end, he still had not given up, as shown by his last-minute conversation with pillow magnate Michael Lindell about using the military to stay in office. [From Rolling Stone] Trump Calls in Pillow Salesman to Discuss Possibility of Instituting Martial Law, https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/trump-calls-pillow- salesman-discuss-003757011.html
[Apologies for any font changes--not sure I've been able to correct them.]
Since leaving office, Mr. Trump has speculated about launching
a new “Patriot Party,” not good news for the
Republican Party. All the more reason for Republicans to join efforts to keep
him from ever running for president again.
A losing presidential candidate has never failed to concede
in recent memory. Even for George W Bush’s first term, Al Gore conceded after the Supreme Court weighed in, even though it looked like he might have
actually won by a small number of votes. I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras then,
unable to follow the issue closely nor did my absentee ballot ever arrive. But
I know Democrats objected then, though nothing like Republican voters and
lawmakers have done today, even with a 7 million vote margin favoring Biden. Reportedly,
a majority of Republican voters, and therefore their representatives, still believe
or allege that somehow Trump actually won, but was cheated out of his proper victory
by a top-secret process that no one has been able to identify. How could this
happen to a sitting president with all the levers of power at his disposal? The
persistence of this belief, invented and perpetuated by Mr. Trump himself, is definitely
still a problem for the nation and for the incoming Biden administration with
its sweeping agenda and message of unity. My son, living in rural West Va.,
says people there are very angry that Trump has left office, blaming Democrats for
cheating and considering Biden an illegitimate president. (Former Vice
President Mike Pence is also reviled as a traitor.)
Let’s envision an imaginary scenario where Mr. Trump held a final press conference to announce, “Folks, after very, very careful scrutiny of the ballots, I’ve come to a surprising final conclusion: that, actually, Biden won after all. We got over 74 million votes, an amazing record, making me very proud of all the MAGA folks out there. But sleepy old Joe Biden surprisingly got even more. Congratulations and good luck to Mr. Biden as he takes on this thankless job. I will be relaxing in sunny Florida, out playing golf and eating McDonald’s burgers, so now I ask my supporters to please stand down and give the poor guy a chance.” Of course, it never happened. It would have helped immensely to heal the nation’s wounds and to enhance Trump’s own image in the history books to have had him simply acknowledge his defeat and Biden’s win. Has a presidential loser ever denied his loss before?
At Biden’s inauguration, pop stars and dignitaries appeared as usual, but a forest of flags had replaced the traditional inauguration crowd. From now on, women seeking the nation’s highest offices will no longer be a rarity. History was being made, yet the event also had a surreal quality. Many of us felt relief that the new president seemed like just an ordinary Joe, a husband, father, church goer, dog lover, a guy who would be our co-worker or neighbor.
I did worry, after all the violence in and around the capitol, that a rogue element among the armed military and police guarding the inauguration might try to take out Joe Biden as he took the oath of office. For safety, I’d wished that he had held the inauguration inside, as Reagan once did. It was a great relief when the festivities were over and the Bidens had moved safely into the White House. Some of us living on Capitol Hill stood out on our front porches, banging on pots and pans in Latin American style, when Biden took the oath.
High-ho, the wicked witch is dead!
A friend in Mexico said of my photo banging on the pot, “We heard you here. We were in tears watching the inauguration. Everything is going to be OK.” Biden was right, that the whole world was watching.
As Biden was being sworn in, I recalled attending Obama's first inauguration, all of us standing cheek-by-jowl in below freezing weather in a crowd extending as far as the eye could see, all stepping on each others' toes, yet feeling excited and exhilarated together. My daughter Stephanie had come out from Hawaii to join us. From a safe distance, I did observe Trump's meager inauguration crowd while walking by, since I live in the neighborhood. Biden didn’t have an inaugural parade, like those I’d witnessed for presidents Carter and Obama. Nor did he hold any balls, such as the tuxedoed affair I’d attended for Jimmy Carter with my late former husband. It was one of several balls, where we all stood together on a crowded dance floor leaving hardly any room for dancing, listening to a live band and waiting for the president and first lady to make the rounds and greet us from a raised dais.
But Biden’s inauguration was still a memorable event, all the more so because of the unprecedented circumstances. That very same evening, his press secretary took questions from reporters and answered them in a straightforward fashion, something very normal, but impressive and refreshing after the last 4 years.
US life expectancy fell in 2020, largely because of virus deaths--an unimaginable more than 400,000, so far, now up to 4,000 per day, more in one day than on 9/11. Mask-wearing and the elbow bump have become routine. At the same time, during the pandemic, there has been a baby bust. So, we do urgently need more immigration to make up the shortfall or our country will become top-heavy with retirees, as is happening in Europe, South Korea, and Japan. The deportation of non-criminals should be halted immediately
Can the Biden Administration reverse anti-immigration policy and achieve other items on Democrats’ wish list? That list includes some goals that may prove more aspirational than achievable, given the political divide. Much is expected of Biden, but he is just another fellow human being, not a wizard or savior.
It may take longer than the span of the Biden administration to fully recover from the twin and interconnected calamities of the Trump administration and the pandemic. It will be at least a year before most Americans can comfortably meet in person with folks outside their household, travel abroad, or go out to a restaurant or theater.
Beyond jettisoning the Electoral College and moving forward with DC statehood, other political changes might be considered in the coming years. Ranked-Choice Voting, approved for use in Maine, Alaska, and some smaller US jurisdictions, as well as other countries, has advantages in primaries and in demonstrating and bolstering support for a winning candidate. However, it may hard for voters to understand, especially when first introduced.
On Martin Luther King Day, 2 days before Biden’s inauguration, I again recalled that summer day in 1963 when my late ex-husband and I, in DC for another meeting, had stood at the edge of an immense crowd gathered for King’s “Dream” speech (no metal detectors), barely able to hear it and not realizing its significance then.
From the Center for the Victims of Torture on its January 2021 Newsletter: As the Electoral College officially affirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, the Trump administration has been making a last sprint to decimate access to asylum. In the past few weeks, the administration published several final rules, four of which will be particularly harmful to individuals fleeing from persecution and torture. The four most harmful new rules: “Death to Asylum,” 15-day filing deadline, transit ban, and the bar to asylum based on national security.
Signatures are being collected on this petition by Cuban dissidents: Michelle Bachelet: Investigación de la ONU sobre la muerte no aclarada de Oswaldo Payá (UN investigation into the unclear death of Oswaldo Payá)
Right now, because of the pandemic and uncertainty about the future of medical brigades, I have no immediate plans to return to Honduras, experiencing its own Covid outbreak and political schisms. The word is that the brigades will be delayed, but I don’t have any details yet. Some of my friends there have had the virus and none are supporters of the current president, Juan Orlando Hernández. (However, I’ve heard him speak on TV and he is vastly more coherent than Donald Trump.)
AP, US motions expand drug claims against Honduras president, https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-motions-expand-drug- claims-165957477.html
The migrant caravan that started out from Honduras as Biden was about to take office was halted in Guatemala./AP, Migrant caravan on the move in Honduras in uncertain times, https://news.yahoo.com/migrant-caravan-move-honduras-uncertain-133506939.h
As daylight gradually increases and after Biden’s swearing in as president, I find my mood lightening, looking forward to life in 202
On another topic, assisted reproduction has really muddied the waters on genetics and parenting. Who are the real mothers here? A woman who could not get pregnant using her own frozen embryos shared them with friends, ultimately creating 3 families, https://www.yahoo.com/news/3-friends-used-1-set-224635322.
And issues around abortion have also become more complicated. I still find myself in sync with the Democratic Party’s main positions on everything except abortion and Joe Biden may have misgivings there as well, though he has expressed support for “abortion rights” while saying he is personally opposed to abortion. Gay marriage seems to have won fairly rapid majority support among Americans, especially Democrats, and Mr. Biden has selected Pete Buttigieg, a very public practitioner of gay marriage, as Secretary of Transportation. However, even decades after Roe, one-third of Democrats do not fully support “abortion rights,” and Democrats for Life has formed in opposition to abortion, capital punishment, and euthanasia. (I don’t know if that organization has staked out a position on assisted reproduction,) Biden has already spoken out publicly only about his opposition to capital punishment. (Before Biden took office, the Trump administration rushed to execute federal inmates, including the first woman since 1953.) While most Americans oppose making abortion illegal, most also support some restrictions, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/479334-poll-majorities-want-abortion-to-remain-legal-but-support-some-restrictions
As a presidential candidate, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said that the party should be a "big tent" for anti-abortion Democrats “who are part of our party.” Senator Bernie Sanders reportedly agreed. Biden has enough on his plate without taking on the abortion issue now, which may not fit with his message of unity, but it may still come up. In New York state, an issue has arisen over how to qualify deaths of late-term fetuses in domestic abuse cases.
As mentioned before on this blog, based on my own experience as both an adoptive and a birth mother and also as a social worker and an interpreter for therapists working with infants actually born before the Roe cut-off, I feel that the cut-off needs to be moved back to an earlier point in gestation, with methods and reasons for a late-term abortion being justified beyond simply the mother’s wishes. Waiting periods and ultrasounds, as well as greater support for troubled women considering abortion, deserve more consideration as well.
However, mores and laws do change with time and circumstances. The morning-after pill is already a done deal nor will most fertilized ova waiting in frozen limbo ever become persons. Those are lost causes for anti-abortion activists. My own main concern is for fetuses without major defects and capable of feeling pain, now not adequately addressed by Roe, though hopefully few abortions are actually performed without those considerations. Yet, a more frank and nuanced public discussion might put to rest my misgivings and those of likeminded citizens and voters. At the same time, appeals on behalf of cute chubby babies do need to acknowledge that babies require adequate parenting and that the human life cycle extends beyond infancy and childhood into adulthood and old age. A unique combination of nature, nurture, and just plain chance determines what sort of person a newborn becomes. Donald Trump, Rudi Giuliani, even Jack-the-Ripper and Lizzie Borden, all were innocent babies once.
