The day that most of us have been eagerly awaiting for the past four years is at long last upon us! Although few could have predicted the exact momentous events of the past two weeks, none of this horrific mess can come as an actual surprise. The only consolation is that Trump is leaving office thoroughly disgraced (except of course to his many millions of cult followers), with a lower than ever approval rating and thankfully permanently (we hope!) stripped of his highly powerful Twitter and Facebook platforms. He still holds sway over the majority of the Republican base, and is therefore certain to have a major if not controlling influence for the foreseeable future, but thankfully certainly less so than would have been the case without the events of the past two weeks! With less than 24 hours to go, it seems safe to assume that we will have dodged the feared possibilities of Trump attacking Iran or some other country, trying to declare martial law or doing anything else catastrophic, that is, in addition to inciting the Capitol insurrection, which was one of the worst possible actions!!

In typical but disgustingly classless and infantile fashion, Trump, who clearly will NEVER acknowledge he legitimately lost the election, is completely snubbing Biden, boycotting the inauguration (the first time in over 150 years that has happened!) and fleeing to Mar-a-Lago hours before the inauguration amid a flashy military send-off he has arranged for himself but which may be poorly attended. About 100 last minute presidential pardons are expected sometime today, which will likely include a number of white-collar criminals, with whom Trump feels an obvious affinity. The predictions are now that Trump will actually not issue the widely expected pardons for his family and himself, which would have been an implicit acknowledgment of all having committed federal crimes. However, it turns out that presidential pardons do not need to be made public, in which case I think it is still very likely that Trump would issue secret pardons for himself and his family and possibly others, only to be whipped out if they become needed in the future.

After being sworn in under the tightest security measures ever, Biden is inheriting one of the worst situations in American history, between the pandemic, the failing economy and the nearly unprecedented divisions stoking the cultural and political civil war which threatens to derail our democracy. He is also the first president in modern history to begin an administration with no confirmed cabinet officers, and also the first to face a divisive and distracting Senate impeachment trial of his predecessor. Even beyond that are the dangerous measures that Trump and his flunkies have taken to sabotage the incoming administration, including limited cooperation with the Biden transition team and placing political allies in various positions within departments. Thoughts and prayers are certainly in order!! But despite all of that, most of the country and much of the world are more than ready to breathe a huge sigh of relief!

This may be my last posting…fingers crossed that Trump cannot surprise us with anything else horrible! We will see if any post-presidency events (e.g. indictment or conviction) inspire me to comment here. It has been an interesting creative experience for me, albeit admittedly disappointing in the lack of exposure and rarity of comments from readers. So it goes! Best of luck to everyone and to our country in general!!!