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Thoughts on the Ascension of Donald Trump to the Highest Office in America

1/20/2017

Mourning in America

James Marcus

"That is my sensation now: we have been poisoned, and will spend some time groping for the antidote. Meanwhile, we might think of adding two more R's to the curriculum of P.S. 59, assuming that it can survive the market-worshipping whims of the School Choice and Education Opportunity Act. The ones I have in mind are verbs, and imperatives. The first is Remember. The second, to be carried out in word and deed, and by no means confined to schoolchildren, is Resist. Despair, division, self-consuming rage, the paralyzing sense that the devil has not only the best tunes but the entire orchestra—resist it all. The battle is just beginning."

Donald Trump has now taken the oath of office and is the forty-fifth president of the United States.

He takes that office at a perilous time. In the Mideast, ISIS remains a significant threat and Turkey turns away from its Alliance with America. Iraq and Afghanistan still are plagued with unrest, and more stable nations like Iran and Saudi Arabia become increasingly contentious.

On the world stage, Russia and China rise in influence while Europe sees growing threats from internal terrorism and the resultant rise of right-wing parties that argue for isolation and repressive laws.

With the ascendency of Trump and his poorly qualified coterie of business billionaires, America faces a similar outcome. Trump continues to exhibit the characteristics that made him anathema to thoughtful people during the campaign: a narcisstic need to strike back at any perceived criticism and a total inability to stick to a rational, coherent narrative. His staff and many of his picks for cabinet posts display similar shortcomings.

What a marked contrast they all make to President Obama. His farewell speech made this crystal clear. In thoughtful discourse, he called us to a forward-looking unity of purpose, rallying all Americans to focus on the future, cast aside rancor, and redouble their efforts to weld the country together into a practical, problem-solving whole.

These efforts are essential. Rancor from our side will only draw rancor in return, and conservatives generally are better at sustaining rancor — as they have demonstrated these past eight years. But lack of rancor does not mean lack of action. We must identify and oppose every crack-brained policy the Republicans propose, every bogus argument they make, every dismissive comment they utter.

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