By Michael P. Riccards

The second inaugural of Donald Trump represented a new low in American poitics. 

In the beautiful Capitol rotunda, the president gave not an address worthy of Lincoln, FDR and John Kennedy but an old mish mash of his grievances of those turned off by his sedition and corruption during the first term. 

He openly attacked Biden right by his side. Jimmy Carter, in his swearing in, stopped at the beginning of his remarks and thanked Gerald Ford for his service to the nation, and the nation reverently appreciated both Ford and the magnanimous Carter. Trump was his usually classless self, ranting even at a sacred moment with vengeance for all and charity for none at his swearing in ceremony and later his campaign rallies indoors.

I was startled to see the almost all white crowds. This election and this inaugural may be the last gasp of old time conservative America. Its shameless exploitation of religion, especially by the huckster Frank Graham, appealed to the types of people who applauded William Jennings Bryan in the Scopes trial. Where is the real Christian God, the Jesus who preached the Sermon on the Mount and gave us beatitudes to live by?

Trump promised a nation of only two genders; he meant two sexes, male and female.  Since when did the government of Jefferson and Lincoln get involved in sexual identity?  Since when did the God of Abraham and Jacob and Moses anoint Trump with his divine right to rule like David did the two Kingdoms?

Then Trump decided to resurrect William McKinley, a big promoter of tariffs, and urge he be planted on Mount Rushmore. Trump never realized that McKinley was not a draft dodger but a genuine war hero. And he was a man who carefully took care of his wife, not a promoter who used them like whores and Kleenex for his desires. 

The former presidents looked on in shock and awe for they understood the moral dimensions of the great office. To top it off, after the dancing balls, Trump, er President Trump, granted pardons to the seditious ones of January, some of whom attacked men and women of law and order. This is what the new president wants us to enjoy. These four years will test whether people rich and stupid like us can govern themselves. 

As our anniversary approaches, we will have in office the worst of the worst. God bless America

Michael P. Riccards, a former college president, is the author of 30 books, including “The Ferocious Engine of Democracy: A History of the American Presidency.“

Categories: Jandoli Institute, Michael Riccards, Politics