Joe Biden was officially sworn as the 46th President of the United States today in a Washington D.C. that’s on full lockdown after the far-right rights two weeks ago and in a ceremony full of platitudes.
Kamala Harris was also sworn in as Vice President of the United States making history as the first woman and woman of color to take the oath.
During his inaugural speech, Biden spoke of “unity”, “being a President for all Americans”, and plenty of other platitudes that certainly isn’t foreign to neoliberal politicians like himself. As far as “unity” goes, it’s a nice word but oftentimes made empty by some who speak it especially if they don’t truly understand the gravity of a given situation when it comes to everyday people.
For us leftists, people of the working class and poor, the black and brown community, and all marginalized people in the United States, “unity”, given the neofascism we all went through the last four years and the decades of neoliberalism that led to it is a hard ask.
“Unity” with xenophobes, racists, bigots, white supremacists, right-wing reactionaries, the far-right, the billionaire class like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk who profited off the ongoing pandemic while millions suffered, capitalists, and neoliberals who would rather be at brunch isn’t going to happen.
That’s not to say some sort of reconciliation isn’t possible amongst the American people. However, that’s certainly not going to come with more empty platitudes from the ruling class. It’s also not going to come without accountability, rehabilition, and actual, meaningful change.
A disgraced Donald Trump left Washington D.C. ahead of the Inauguration
Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Melania Trump left Washington ahead of today’s Inauguration with the lowest approval ratings of any President and First Lady in the history of the United States.
They also leave a country at the height of a deadly global pandemic that has now killed well over 400K people in the United States, a number that didn’t have to be as high if it wasn’t for Donald Trump’s carelessness and incompetence.
But aside from Trump leaving, watching Ivanka and the rest of his shitty family cry in some ways helped get us through the rest of the liberal cringe that was in store for the rest of the day.
I’m sure these are tears out of service for their own ego though. Perhaps too coming as the Trump klan was coming to realize the shit ton of legal issues coming their way.
