Today, America witnessed the collision of two meaningful events: Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the presidential inauguration.
Honoring King, a civil rights leader, with a national holiday was a long battle that began days after his assassination in Memphis in April 1968. President Jimmy Carter lent his support in 1979, but the holiday didn’t become official until 1983. Now, many people, including me, observe the King holiday with a day of service in their communities.
Credit: handout
Credit: handout
That the holiday this year coincides with the inauguration of Donald Trump to his second presidential term is challenging for many Americans, probably especially so for the 75 million who voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
Many people — including a few elected officials and others in politics — have pledged not to watch the inauguration. This time around, Trump carried a lot of baggage as he took the oath of office.
Former first lady Michelle Obama caused a bit of a stir when she said she would not attend the inauguration. She also skipped the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter, where, by protocol, she would have sat next to Trump. Obama has not said why she skipped either event, but those who read her memoir, “Becoming,” and heard her speech at the Democratic National Convention could guess that watching Trump’s inauguration would make her uncomfortable.
Joining her in skipping the inauguration was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is recovering from a hip replacement. Like Harris, Pelosi is no friend of Trump’s and blames his rhetoric for the attack on her husband in their San Francisco home in 2022.
Two rising young Democratic stars — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas — also didn’t attend. Unlike Obama and Pelosi, Ocasio-Cortez and Crockett were clear in their reasoning. In a video online, Ocasio-Cortez said she couldn’t support Trump and referenced the many sexual assault accusations made against the president, all of which he denies. Crockett told the Dallas Morning News, “The idea of celebrating someone that I consider to continuously desecrate the work and the legacy of Martin Luther King on Martin Luther King Day — it was just kind of like a double whammy and an absolute no for me.”
The three living ex-presidents — Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton — attended the inauguration but declined to attend a customary luncheon in Trump’s honor after the swearing-in.
Given Trump’s history, you would think more current and former elected officials would have openly protested the inauguration.
Barely more than a week ago, special prosecutor Jack Smith released one of two much-anticipated reports on the federal criminal indictments of Trump, which were wound down after Trump’s November victory. In the report about Trump’s role in Capitol riot on the Jan. 6, 2021, Smith wrote: “Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.” (Monday morning, Biden issued preemptive pardons for members of the House Jan. 6 select committee, including former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. He also preemptively pardoned various other public servants, including infectious diseases expert Anthony S. Fauci and retired Gen. Mark Milley, who could be targets under the Trump administration.)
The other report, on the classified documents case, is being held hostage by a Trump-appointed federal judge in Florida.
Trump began his transition by making notably outrageous Cabinet picks. His appointments would have been unthinkable just a decade ago, DOA at the Senate.
More disturbingly, just 48 hours before taking the oath of office, Trump introduced a memorabilia cryptocurrency coin called $trump that surged to more than $70 billion in value in its first day. The coin offers anyone — including U.S. adversaries — a path to funnel money directly to the president.
Meanwhile, media outlets are capitulating to Trump, settling lawsuits instead of fighting them and moving respected reporters out of high-visibility jobs. ABC News settled a libel suit for millions, even though experts believed the news network would have won. The Daily Beast reported that CNN star reporter Jim Acosta might be moved from his prime morning slot to midnight. Acosta famously was banned from the White House during Trump’s first term. CNN sued and Acosta was let back in.
It should leave all who still values virtue, honesty and fidelity to the Constitution shaking their heads. We used to believe our presidents were honorable men, at least in the public’s eye. No more. Trump is America’s 47th president despite being a twice-impeached convicted felon who was under federal indictment for dozens of alleged crimes.
I fear for my country today, as many do. But I stand in solidarity with the peaceful, nonviolent patriots whose absence at the Capitol on this day spoke volumes. As King said, “Nonviolence is a powerful and just weapon, which cuts without wounding and ennobles the man who wields it.”
