2021: Here We Are
This time last year, I wrote a post titled “Week One Was a Doozy,” referring to the first week of 2020.
Yeah. Good times.
It feels like 100 years have passed since January, 2020. But here we are, at the end of the first week of January 2021. A much shorter post would be about what hasn’t happened, but I don’t want to jinx anything so I’ll stick to what has.
Yesterday morning, I awoke to the confirmation that we had two new democratic senators from Georgia. Stacey Abrams was receiving in the praise she — and so many other BIPOC — so well deserves. I was cautiously optimistic because the Electoral College count would be ratified and the 2020 election would officially be finalized. The Joe Biden and Kamala Harris would be set to be inaugurated on January 20th, 2021. I smiled. I felt hopeful.
And then I remembered the incumbent, Donald Jerkus Trumplethinskin, and his call to action of his followers.
I watched his speech, his inciting of violence. We’ve all become so accustomed to his hate-filled rhetoric that I nearly just rolled my eyes and ignored it. I mean, I did roll my eyes, but I also sat up straighter in my chair and thought, Here we go.
I watched in disgust as the Capitol Police seemingly allow this attempted coup to unfold. I was not surprised though. I knew this day was coming.
The blatant double-standard of how this predominately white mob went largely unchallenged, knowing that if that was a mass of people of color, the scenario would have played out in a very different way, enrages me.
Elected Republican officials even took part. FFS. West Virginia House of Delegates Representative, Derrick Evans, proudly filmed — and posted, then later deleted — footage of his adventure with fascism.
The electoral vote count was, eventually, ratified after a most troubling and bizarre day and the 2020 election process is, at long last, complete.
Today, I’m watching lawmakers finally make noise about the need for VP Pence to step up and invoke the 25th Amendment to have Trump removed. Meanwhile, Trump says he’s going to Camp David for the weekend.
Fletcher Knebel’s 1965 novel, Night of Camp David: What Would Happen if the President of the USA Went Stark-Raving Mad? has come to life. I’ve been posting this image for years. Sadly, the character in Knebel’s book is actually self-aware and eventually realizes his paranoia and agrees to step down. There is not a hamberder’s chance in hell of Trump doing the same.
Trump posted a video this Thursday evening of January 7th in which he finally acknowledges another administration will be inaugurated on January 20th. He said his focus was now on a smooth transition of power. More than two months after the election, he has finally, kinda sorta, conceded. He did not mention Biden by name.
He did, however, address is base directly. “To all of my wonderful supporters, I know that you are disappointed. But I also want you to know that our incredible journey is just beginning.”
I have no idea what tomorrow will bring. I pray we actually all make it through these next weeks to find out how life under the next administration will unfold. I do not say that lightly. I have no desire to go back to what we were, what we still are. I sincerely hope that we move forward and rebuild this nation to match the realities and needs of our beautiful, diverse population.
The world is watching and worried, as they should be. As we all should be.
