By Laurie Baron
SAN DIEGO — With the inauguration of Donald Trump, the claim of American exceptionalism is deceptional.
The poem on the Statue of Liberty welcomes the “tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free and wretched refuse” to the United States. Trump agrees with labeling immigrants “wretched refuse” and denigrates them as “animals.” He has forgotten his grandfather immigrated from Germany, his mother from Scotland, and two of his wives from Czechoslovakia and Slovenia. I’m surprised he didn’t announce he will tear down the Statue of Liberty and replace it with a statue of himself holding up a “No Trespassing” sign. He will then market small souvenir replicas of the new Statue of Insularity for a discounted price if bundled with his bible.
The inscription on the Supreme Court reads “Equal Justice Under Law.” This Court ruled “the President is absolutely immune from criminal prosecution for conduct within his exclusive sphere of constitutional authority.” As Mel Brooks once quipped, “It’s good to be the king!
Only in America could a man who incited a mob to violently ransack the Capitol return to the same building to be sworn into office promising he will pardon those convicted for participating in that riot. Will this precedent be applicable to those who protest his policies in the future?
Only in America would an outgoing president feel compelled to pardon the doctor who promulgated medically sound policies to limit the number of hospitalizations and deaths from Covid because the incoming president, whose incompetence contributed to its death toll, threatened to prosecute the doctor. Moreover, he has nominated as the Secretary of Health and Human Services an antivaxxer. Perhaps the next Secretary of Commerce charged with attracting manufacturing back to the United States will be a Luddite.
Only in America could a candidate who pledged not to start any foreign wars call for the annexation of Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. Is he aware that Costa Rica and not those states is the only country in the Northern hemisphere that doesn’t have an army?
Only in America could a billionaire who surrounds himself with other billionaires and caters to their economic interests maintain that he’s the champion of the little guy. On the other hand, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are only five feet seven inches tall.
Only in America could the new president brag about his electoral mandate when less than 50 % of voters cast their ballots for him and more eligible voters did not vote for either Harris or him.
Though he briefly referred to Martin Luther King, he at least didn’t sing “I shall overcome… the restraints imposed on me by the constitution.”
As Thomas Jefferson once said, “The government you elect is the government you deserve.”
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Laurie Baron is professor emeritus of history at San Diego State University.