Eight years ago, President Donald Trump spoke of “American carnage” in his first inaugural address. It was a bleak, ruthless portrait of a divided nation that now seems more divided than ever.
And yet, this same nation was unified enough (across the swing states, at least) to resoundingly elect Trump a second time: the convicted felon, the insurrectionist, the accused rapist, the racist, the billionaire and the comeback king.
Don’t be mistaken, he is now a king; America is not a democracy. With control of all three branches of government, Washington is Trump’s royal court, and the jesters — Stephen Miller, Elon Musk, Tulsi Gabbard, you name it — are here to entertain.
The next four years promise to be more bleak and ruthless than Trump’s first term. The “American carnage” speech was just an appetizer. Trump is hungrier; he’s returned bold and vengeful. He knows the ins-and-outs of Washington. If anyone dare challenge Trump, they will pay. Loyalty is his currency, and his loyalists staff the executive branch, preside over courts and control our digital means of communication.
In his “America first” inauguration speech on Monday, Trump said he will “create a nation that is proud, prosperous and free.”
Prosperous and free for whom?
Only one executive order Trump signed on Inauguration Day aimed to reduce inflation and the cost of living — what the American public elected him to do.
Instead, in pursuit of “our manifest destiny” and “golden age,” Trump ordered hundreds of federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) employees to be placed on paid leave and soon dismissed; pardoned and commuted the sentences of January 6 rioters; renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America; deregulated energy production and drilling; removed the U.S. from international treaties and organizations; raised prescription drug costs and declared an end to birthright citizenship in direct violation of the Constitution, among other heinous, dictator-like acts.
His patriotic inauguration rhetoric fails to acknowledge the millions of Native Americans massacred in the “land of untamed wilderness.”
This is another American massacre.
Our values, freedoms and identities are at stake, and we will lose a lot. Not everything Trump attempts will stick (I hope), but if his first days in office are any indication: This. Is. Just. The. Beginning.
One idiot, two genders, five Supreme Court justices, a few tech billionaires, Christian fundamentalism, nationalism and censorship will define the next four years. We must find a way to stop Trump. Let’s hope enough people are paying attention.