No TV for me today
Thought for the day
As I write today's blog, President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump are having coffee/tea at the White House. In a few minutes, the two of them, along with their wives, will be driven to the U.S. Capitol where the peaceful transfer of power will take place.
For me, today is a bittersweet day. That's because since the 1960s, I have always watched the inaugural address by the new leader of the free world, but not today. Simply put, I just can't bring myself to turn on my TV.
Some of my earliest memories have had political overtones. When I was 8, I watched the 1956 Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago because my dad was a delegate. Two years later, my dad's friend from high school, then-Attorney General Pat Brown, was speaking in our backyard to scores of neighbors.
In 1960, my dad served as a Kennedy delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Two months later — just days before I turned 12 — I shook JFK's hand after he delivered a speech on the tarmac at the San Francisco Airport. From that moment on, I was hooked on politics.
Despite the Kennedy assassination in '63, LBJ's Gulf of Tonkin speech in '64, Nixon's Watergate scandal beginning in '72, or all the other presidents who followed, I watched every one of them deliver their inaugural addresses or their first State of the Union addresses. Why? Because to me, these quintessential American events always were bigger than Christmas, New Year's Eve, the World Series and Super Bowl all wrapped up together.
Which brings me to today's inauguration. Yes, I watched Donald Trump's inaugural address in 2017, but I can't do it now. It's not because I'm a sore loser. No. It's because I truly am afraid of what's to come. Not for myself, but for my kids and grandchildren. If you ask me, the America they eventually will inherit won't be the America I once knew. Some will say that's a good thing. At my age, 76, and with Trump back in the White House, I'm not so sure.
I hope the next 4 years pass quickly.
-DF
My TV is black, just like my garb, out of respect for the office. Not the now-inaugurated felon. America did NOT speak - Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, et al spoke and allowed MAGA lies to spread. If ever an election was stolen, it is this one. But it wasn't actually stolen - it was bought by the oligarchs-to-be. So, I will protest the new administration and encourage all right-thinking Americans to do the same.
I love you, Brother Denny, but am sad for you today! I watched Biden’s, and ALL others! Sorry, you are a sore loser and am disappointed by your choice… but America spoke, as they have always! Trump will surprise you I believe… but it will not follow far left agendas that I feel has left our great country in harms way! Give him a chance!