January 20, 2025
It’s early here in San Francisco on Martin Luther King Jr. Day – four in the morning, seven on the east coast. Today is the day that the United States celebrates the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Today is also Inauguration Day, when, at Noon Eastern Time, the new President of the United States will be sworn in.
The irony couldn’t be more stark, and the visions of America so conflicting. The only saving fortuity, the only deliverance from a darker blasphemy, is that due to dangerously cold weather conditions in Washington D.C., the swearing in ceremony has been moved indoors from the National Mall where, in August of 1963, Dr. King delivered his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech before a crowd of more than 250,000 (King’s speech was delivered on the opposite end of the Mall from where the inaugural speech would be made).
Sixty-two years ago Dr. King said, “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”
Four months ago, on a debate stage, the then presidential candidate denigrated an entire group in a small city in Ohio. They were people of color, Haitians who were only trying to get on with their day to day lives, but they were tarred with an accusation that they were killing and eating the community’s pets. That candidate’s following rallied around that lie.
Was this in Dr. King’s dreamscape? How far we have fallen.
Sixty-two years ago, Dr. King spoke of an uncashed check. “In a sense we have come to our Nation’s Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Sometime today, after taking office, the incoming president is expected to sign hundreds of executive orders. It is expected that those orders will include roll backs of diversity initiatives, pardons for the January 6th insurrectionists, mass deportations, and who knows what other assaults on the ideals of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Over the next four years, the 47th president, using Project 2025 as a blueprint, will seek to void the check of promise.
Martin Luther King spoke in terms of dreams. Dreams of liberty and equality. During the dark days of racism he saw flickers of hope on the American horizon. Dr. King envisioned an America that would represent all; an America that would come together, an America where we would have each other’s backs, an America that would offer comfort, that would feed the hungry, shine a light of opportunity for those stumbling in the darkness of misfortune, an America that would provide safe harbor for those foundering in the tempest of authoritarianism and repression.
Our incoming president speaks in terms of retribution, repression and threats. He speaks in terms that douse the flames of hope with the cold waters of division and hate. He describes an America in dystopian terms, not to encourage progress, but to convince the gullible that he alone is the savior of the nation. We’ve seen this script before. It’s the libretto of the despot; the Hitlers, the Mussolinis and all of those who came to power by sowing discord.
The incoming president, his blueprint and the architects who crafted it seek to take America back, not just to the days before 1963, when King delivered his speech, but to a place and a time that America has never known before.
Certainly those who heard Dr. King’s words on that historic day in DC, must have felt a sigh of warmth and a small ray of light.
Sixty-two years later, I feel a cold frozen chill, and I see black, foreboding clouds of uncertainty. I fear tomorrow like I’ve never feared a day ever before in my life. Will the jailhouse doors swing open freeing the gangs of insurrectionists? Will the immigration raids begin tomorrow and what form will they take? Will the guardrails of democracy really be torn down? Project 2025 is not a blueprint for evolution but a scheme of destruction.
And oh my God, how I feel for the people of Ukraine. One can only imagine the depths of their fear right now as the sentinel of democracies around the world threatens to stand down.
I fear the next four years – and beyond. I’m just a small-time blogger but the thought hasn’t escaped me that my continued written and verbal opposition to the administration of the 47th president could land me in the crosshairs of persecution or prosecution. But I cannot let myself be overwhelmed by fear. I have to remember the people before me who spoke out for right and freedom and against injustice; people much greater than I could ever hope to be, and let myself be strengthened by their words and by their examples and let their works be my guiding light.
I’ve no doubt that today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the incoming president will channel the words of Dr. King and try to compare his own life to that of Dr. King. It will not just be a fraud and a deception, but a vile desecration.
Today and in the coming days, months and years, those of us who cherish the promise of democracy and what America is supposed to stand for should hold the words of Dr King close to their hearts and firmly in their minds.
“Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you, my friends, we have the difficulties of today and tomorrow.”
This is the worst time to disengage or to wallow in depression and helplessness. Today begins a new day and a new task for Americans who cherish democracy. We must be vigilant and we must be courageous and we must be willing to stand up for our rights and to protect the rights of those most at risk. We must be ready to form a shield for those who stand to be the most marginalized. Do not bow, do not give up, do not give in. Push back on the tyranny that looms on our horizon.
Once again, it is time for us to “have a dream.”
The Life in My Years 
I’ve been thinking about you and the many who feel as you do, today. Who knows what will happen in the next four years, but I do believe it will impact many countries around the world and the people of those countries. None more so than all of you however, of course. Good luck – I fear you’ll need it!
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Hello Sarah, I didn’t watch any of the events yesterday but by the end of the day I’d heard some news. I was exhausted, disgusted and distraught. We’re reliving the nightmare only it’s come back worse than the previous.
Last night I unfriended 4 friends on Facebook who I knew to be Trump supporters. I couldn’t tolerate them anymore.
I’m afraid that all of us will need good luck.
Thank you for reading and commenting
Paul
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One thing that has surprised me, as an outside observer, is how the US Constitution permits of these executive orders in principle. It seems more like the workings of a dictatorship than a democracy. Are there no checks and balances, however sycophantic?
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Hello Sarah, Sorry for the late response.
During COVID, I took two online classes on the Constitution through Yale University and it opened my eyes to the vagueries of the Constitution, particularly Article II, which covers the Executive Branch. If you read it, there is almost nothing there about the duties or limitiations of the executive. It mostly covers how the president is elected and what the qualifications are (which don’t, unfortunately include “orange idiot” as a disqualification).
The professor of the class explained that, while the duties of the judicial and legislative are more descriptive, the founders saw George Washington as a model who would, by example, begin to fill out the ideals of what the executive should be. Further, they wanted future presidents to continue to define the executive. But here we are.
Executive orders can be checked by the Judicial Branch, and as we have seen with the so called birthright issue of the Fourteenth Amendment, Trump’s order repealing birthright citizenship was stayed. It is no longer in force until the appeals take it through the court system to the Supreme Court.
Thank you for reading and commenting
Paul
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How far America has fallen indeed, when the new president is clear on having no commitment at all of being president for all citizens, or for all non-cis-male genders, for all races, for the poor, for the planet, for allies, or really for anything other than ensuring that he and his cronies stay as rich as possible. A sad, sad day in American history.
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Hello Jane, By day’s end yesterday I was distraught and exhausted and the was only over news snippets that I’d seen or heard. I can’t believe that we’re reliving this nightmare. One that appears will be on an even worse scale.
Thank you for reading and commenting
Paul
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That the two events should fall on the same day is ironic. tRump in no way deserves to share the day with a man like Dr. King, but maybe there are bigger forces at play. Perhaps the memory of Dr. King and his legacy will haunt the new administration from day one. Maybe those who hold the ideals of Dr. King will rise up and ensure his dream and sacrifices are not forgotten.
I really hope so, for all our sakes.
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Hello Eden, Yes, Trump did channel MLK. It was a desecration. I wish that you could be correct about King’s memory haunting the new administration. I don’t know if that is possible. Can one be haunted if one has no shame and no morality?
It’s too bad we aren’t a shithole country, then the impact of this monstrosity wouldn’t be so great on the rest of the world. What the hell, four years from now we probably will be a shithole country. Isn’t that what you get when you have a shithole administration?
Thanks for reading and commenting
Paul
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I nearly cried when I saw your cover photo Paul. It says so much. And then came your words. How they echo my thoughts. I took my camera out yesterday and concentrated on photography so I wouldn’t have to face the truth of what was happening in Washington. God truly needs to bless America and get us through these horrible next four years. Or if Trump has his way, even more.
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Hello Anne, I also left the house for most of the day yesterday, though I did pick up snippets of news, all of it disturbing. By late in the afternoon, I had heard a significant amount of news and I also was on the verge of tears.
I don’t know how some of the on the fence Trump voters and those who didn’t vote are feeling now. I hope it’s a mixture anger and remorse for realizing that what they voted for (or sat out) and what they’re getting are two different things. The diehards will always be lost. Hopefully Trump has misread the election results and the midterms will be a repudiation.
A note on the cover photo. It was obviously AI generated. WP offers that feature now and it’s come in handy for some generic cover photos. I guess that’s my bow to AI.
Thank you for reading and commenting
Paul
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Hear! Hear! To your closing paragraph, Paul. I see signs of a budding resistance—from us—we the people.
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Hello Annie, Their aim in these first 100 days is to create confusion and exhaustion. So many times in only the past week, I’ve wanted to throw up my hands (or just throw up), quit, and give in. This is a marathon and not a sprint and we have to push through the exhaustion.
Paul
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