An Alternative Inaugural Wish For 2025

<"Buyer's  Remorse Sunk In Yet?"/The Reckoner>

The less said about the Devil's Festival, AKA Donald Trump's Inauguration, the better. The less said about those obeying him in advance -- Jeff Bezos, John Fetterman, Carrie Underwood, Mark Zuckerberg, and too many others to name -- the better. The less said about those tithing themselves to the Dear Leader, the better (see US News & World Report link below).

The less said about Trump's junk drawer Cabinet picks, the better. For all the ink lavished on the freakish likes of Pete Hegseth -- whose tattoo-plastered upper body suggests some unholy collision of a Sharpie, and a bottle of Scotch, force-fed via some nickel and dime Henry Rollins-style angst -- it's easy to forget that he'll join 13 billionaires in the most plutocratic Cabinet seen since the Roaring '20s.

The less said about those sticking their heads in the sand -- imagine Husker Du retitling Zen Arcade's side four curtain raiser, "Turn Off The News" -- the better. The less said about those who didn't vote -- apparently, for lack of an ultra-ideal alternative, like someone who drinks milk all day, and hangs out with Donny Osmond, for instance -- the better. 

The less said about those who voted against their own interests -- from the suburban women who shrugged off the post-Dobbs world of abortion restrictions, to the Blacks and Latinos who rationalized Trump's bigoted outbursts ("He doesn't mean us"), and Arab Americans who cashed in their righteous moral anger over the slaughter in Gaza, with Israel's fullest-throated supporter -- the better.

The less said about those milking their ride on the Trump Train, the better. That includes the likes of Nick Johnson, one of countless YouTubers churning out pro-Trump content at an industrial place (full attention spans have no relevance in dopamine-driven culture, after all). 

The less said about Trump's loyal subjects -- such as the Black female proprietor of a pro-Trump merchandise store, proudly displaying her latest offering, a Confederate-styled flag bathing suit -- the better. If you can find a better snapshot of the contradictory doublethink that underpins the Trump movement, we'd like to see. (Hey, it's heritage, not hate, right? Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.)

The less said about the political deathbed conversions of our outgoing President -- who warned us, in his farewell address, “Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead' -- the better. Like his Democratic predecessors, Joe Biden left a fair imprint on the nation; yet, like Clinton and Obama before him, he also departs, having failed to fully appreciate, let alone master, the far right's continuing assault against our democratic system. If America sleepwalks into autocracy, that failure will cast the longest of shadows.

The less said about any, or all of these things, the better. Seeing Biden finally, belatedly, embracing some of the reforms that might have earned him another term -- notably, reforming the character and transparency of the Supreme Court, one dominated by Republican appointees, who seemed hellbent on kneecapping his presidency -- marks one of our most painful milestones, coming as it did, on the eve of his enforced departure from the race,and the end of his 50-year political career. 

We can only imagine how Biden might have fared, had he launched his 2024 Presidential campaign, with the above-mentioned words of warning, or these, perhaps: "And in a democracy, there's another danger to the concentration of power and wealth. It erodes a sense of unity and common purpose. It causes distrust and division. Participating in our democracy becomes exhausting and even disillusioning, and people don't feel like they have a fair shot." 

How much farther Biden (or Harris) would have gotten, and how much better would their party would have fared, if only they'd rallied around these forceful words? We'll never know, of course. It's the sort of cognitive dissonance that has driven progressives crazy, over the long run, and one that will surely haunt them, in the short one.

Our hope is that progressives do not linger over such parlor games for long. In many ways, they offer an energy-draining dance of diversion, and distraction, one that is temporarily useful, in venting frustration, yet no substitute for a long-term strategy. There is a great deal of truth in Martin Luther King Jr.'s suggestion that "right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant," and his oft-quoted aphorism: "If you can't fly, then run. If you can't run, then walk. If you can't walk, then crawl, but whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward."

We have already outlined some potential responses in our previous message ("The Real Project 2025"), which we need not rehash here. For now, it's sufficient to state our biggest wish, as we begin the likes of 2025 -- a year that seems destined to rival George Orwell's year (1984) in the pop culture infamy sweepstakes. That wish, simply stated, is to get up, and get moving.

Already, various counterintuitive narratives -- some promoted by the far right and its enablers, some not -- are beginning to take shape. Trump won a decisive mandate to remake America in his image. The various prosecutions against him represented partisan "lawfare" that cemented his re-election. Perhaps we can find ways of working with Trump, whatever we think of his worst tendencies, or his ghoulish cheering section.

Pushing back against these narratives is certainly an important step, in changing it for the better; it's the reason that the Clash placed a graphic on their breakthrough album, Combat Rock (1982), which reads, "Know your rights. The future is unwritten." In the spirit of self-defense, we offer a guide to finding a demonstration near you (see link below), for today.

And if you do, let these words from The New Republic ring in your ears: "In his second term, it should be the task of liberals to force Trump to swallow a daily spoonful of the very real job stress that Obama struggled so mightily to endure." That seems like a good start, especially as Trump and his allies gear up, and prepare us for four years of plutocratic minority rule. 

Let them plot, let them plan; let them laugh, and let them lick their chops; let them stand up and shout, let them stomp and scream and celebrate. Let them do any or all of these things, for today. What matters is tomorrow, one that will arrive sooner, rather than later -- one that we can take back, if we only put our minds to it -- and when that moment comes, we're ready to meet it. --The Reckoner

Associated Press: Progressives Are Frustrated
By Biden's Final-Days Warning Of Billionaire Influence:
https://apnews.com/article/biden-oligarchy-democrats-progressives-criticism-420ad7e81a692f0444f84d41654faae1

Paste Magazine: The Fake News Pipeline:
How A Small-Time Clickbait Farmer Is Spreading the Gospel of Big Oil:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/politics/bayou-bridge-pipeline/the-fake-news-pipeline-how-two-small-time-clickbait

People's March: Find A Demonstration Near You:
https://map.peoplesmarch.com/local?link_id=2&can_id=4e6c8046819e1ba183f676fa03eddc7a&source=email-take-a-stand-at-the-peoples-march-this-inauguration-weekend&email_referrer=email_2587221&email_subject=take-a-stand-at-the-peoples-march-this-inauguration-weekend

The New Republic: Shove The Presidency Down Trump's Throat:
https://newrepublic.com/post/190337/trump-second-term-democrats-respond

US News & World Report:
Trump Ushers In The Oligarchy Biden Is Warning Us About:

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2025-01-16/trump-biden-oligarchs-billionaires-treasury-secretary

White House: President Biden's Farewell Address (Text):

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2025/01/15/remarks-by-president-biden-in-a-farewell-address-to-the-nation/