A mind-numbing affair

 

Moustafa Bayoumi

Well, that was boring. Predictable, prosaic and propelled by his typical exaggerations of national decay, Donald Trump’s inauguration address was a largely forgettable affair. Even his 2017 address had the memorable phrase of “American carnage”. This time around, we mostly heard a repetitious set of platitudes describing how the “golden age of America begins right now” and that “for Americans citizens, January 20, 2025, is Liberation Day”. But liberated from what, exactly?

It’s not that this country is without problems. There are many serious issues to confront, from the climate emergency to access to reproductive health, to name but two that impact the majority of Americans. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, as he said he would today from the Capitol’s emancipation hall, will not bring prosperity to the American people. Neither will his newly announced External Revenue Service, a division of the government that Trump promises will enact tariffs on many imports coming into the United States. Experts almost uniformly believe that enacting such broad-based tariffs will raise and not lower prices.

The Trump tradition has long been to promise pretty much everything to voters and blame others when the promised rewards evaporate. And much of it is just fanciful or contradictory. We were told, for example, that Trump will not start any new wars but will take back the Panama Canal. OK, sure.

What’s not fanciful is the fear that will now be felt by Americans in mixed-status households (where a family member is not documented while others in the family are). There are at least 4.7m such households in this country. Then there’s the fear that transgender and non-binary Americans will have after Trump decrees that there are only two genders. We’ve been here before, so we know that other assaults on our daily lives are looming.

Trump’s inauguration may have been a mind-numbing affair, but what’s coming will be anything but. That’s why it’s more important than ever that we keep our wits about us, and be prepared to challenge and confront.

 

guardian