Darkness falls as #NotMyPresident Trump and Nazi Co-president Musk begin their reign

"Hello, darkness my old friend..."

Paul Simon's famous lyrics -- covered here by (appropriately) Disturbed -- have never been more pertinent than they are now.

As of today, January 20, 2025, the coup is complete, as The Racket's Jonathan Katz put it. #NeverWasMy President Donald John Trump, apparently without a hint of irony, took the oath of office. It is of course an oath that he has no intention of keeping, which might explain why, contrary to the cartoon in the graphic above, and in contrast to his former coronation, he didn't actually place his tiny paw on the pair of Bibles offered by his Hamburglar-hatted helpmeet.

Cantaloupe Caligula is not by any stretch of the imagination a godly man, notwithstanding the cynical branding efforts by some of his most power-hungry allies (not to mention his own laughable branding efforts). But it's possible that he harbors sufficient religious superstition to fear that the holy books might burst into flame if he came in contact with them while uttering a bald-faced lie. Or perhaps in a rare moment of public candor he was simply expressing his genuine disdain for God's Word. Or maybe he just resented the fact that his own grift bible wasn't the prop of choice.

In any case, contrary to the desperate hopes and speculations of some, there's no Constitutional requirement that a president put his hand on a Bible or Bibles during the swearing-in ceremony. Which on the one hand (so to speak) is good, because it confirms the essentially secular intent of the founders. But on the other hand, it also means that Trump has now been legitimately empowered to dismantle and reassemble the republic according to his and his broligarchic allies' wishes.

* * * * *

The coup might be complete, but the guest list at today's momentous ceremony was apparently incomplete, most likely to the deep disappointment of the newly crowned Lord of All. From the Katz piece (here's that link again):

Today, Donald Trump took the oath of office inside the Capitol his supporters ransacked four years ago, backed by every living former president and the gazillionaire CEOs of every major U.S. tech platform. But one powerful ally who’d really liked to have been there was not in the crowd. Jair Bolsonaro, the former president of Brazil, was stuck at home, under arrest and indictment for a raft of alleged offenses, including money laundering and trying to instigate a January 6-style coup attempt of his own¹ . The Brazilian Supreme Court denied a plea to reinstate Bolsonaro’s passport; his wife was expected to attend instead.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, another Trumpy president—Yoon Suk Yeol² —is also in custody and facing trial for his declaration of martial law in what appeared to be yet another failed self-coup. Yoon was, unlike Bolsonaro but like Trump, the sitting president at the time of his attempt. In fact, he is still the president, though his powers have been suspended and he is facing possible removal. In South Korea, trying to overthrow democracy in plain sight is considered a grave enough threat to justify throwing a sitting president in jail. How quaint.

Katz's point, with which I must reluctantly agree, was that President Biden and allies could have done so much more than they did to possibly prevent today's lamentable coronation.

...the simple fact is this: Other countries have found ways to hold their anti-democratic presidents accountable and prevent them from taking office again. America did not.

And because America did not, we have not only Trump in power but also much greater evils, most notably, Co-President Musk, who shamelessly and repeatedly performed a Nazi salute during an afternoon rally today, while thanking Trump supporters for saving civilization. (That tracks; Musk has expressed his support for Germany's far-right (neo-Nazi-adjacent) AFD party.)

And tomorrow the wholesale destruction of America begins in earnest. Actually it has already begun, with a flurry of executive orders intended to further enrich the broligarchs, ruin the environment, and give the shaft to ordinary Americans and marginalized groups such as immigrants and LGBTQ communities. Oh, yes, and Trump is freeing thousands of the J6 convicts who stormed the Capitol in 2021 in an attempt to overturn the government. Nice.

I would say that it's going to be a long four years, but my fear is that we're in for many more years of hell than that.

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made...
~ Paul Simon, "The Sound of Silence"

We are all stuck with that garish god, including, unfortunately, the many millions who always saw him for what he truly is and always voted accordingly. But even as grim as things look now, I refuse to give up hope. And it is my hope that you feel the same.