A violent transfer of power

Strap in kids, it’s inauguration day here in the US. Yep, Trump is out and we have a president again. My disdain for Trump is no secret, the amount of suffering and death he’s caused by his dereliction of duties, incompetence, and lack of empathy is incalculable and even with him gone, the damage he’s done will last at least a generation, if not more. Let’s be clear, this wasn’t a peaceful transition, the amount of military at the capitol says as much.

We now have a democrat as a president so the GOP will suddenly care about COVID-19, it’s outrageously high death toll, and the botched vaccine rollout. Oh and look at that budget deficit, we should do something about that now that it rose nearly $8 trillion (with a motherfucking T) since he took office and enacted all sorts of backwards policies to transfer wealth to the rich (source). Which for the record is about $23,500 for every person here in the US, didn’t get the check? Neither did I, but don’t worry the richest among us took care of that for us.

The attempted coup that occurred just a few short weeks ago will now be brushed off by GOP leaders and they will continue to call for “unity” because nothing says unity like trying to overthrow the government. It’s okay because it failed so we should just forgive and forget, but that’s not how things work. There should be actual consequences for trying to overthrow the government, even for the people in power who enabled it, not just the poor fools who followed the call.

We’re taught early on that justice is blind, hence the statue of a woman holding scales who’s blindfolded. That maybe true for you and me, but if you have money or power justice isn’t just blind, it has left the building. We built a justice system around making sure the wealthiest and most powerful of us don’t have to answer to it. Part of that is the systematic racism that founded the country, but this is a feature, not a bug. It’s by design and that probably won’t change. Which of course is to say that you can be a rich and powerful congressperson who tries to overthrow democracy because they want even more power than they already have, fail, and suffer minimal consequences.

Which brings us to today, inauguration day. The national guard has been called in, the FBI is hunting down the cultists who stormed the capitol, and we’ve already seen several military and police personnel get caught trying to help bring down the government because Trump lost and the minority wants to rule over everyone no matter the cost. I don’t use the term cult lightly, but what we witnessed this past four years was the rise of a cult, one that still has a significant amount of power in our government. Hence the calls for unity, to forgive and move on. No one with power or money should have to face consequences, that’s just so… unamerican.

Make no mistake, this isn’t the end. While this signifies a change, a small but important turning point, we didn’t survive. You can’t unring the bell, that’s not how it works. The capitol was stormed at the behest of Trump and the GOP, who were caught aiding in the attack days before it happened. Because Trump and the GOP have yet to call off the cult, we now need the national guard to keep the President safe. That isn’t a peaceful transition of power, that’s being forced out of power.

Bottom line is there is a lot of work to do. Sure celebrate, small victories are still victories and we need to celebrate where and when we can. Know that I’m not suggesting anything less. I’m simply pointing out that this is barely past the starting point, not anywhere near an end. We need to hold the people who let this happen accountable, we can’t “heal” or come together without holding everyone to the same standard. History tells us that without consequences nothing will change, it just gets pushed down and ignored until the day it can’t be ignored.