Inauguration Weekend

It was an incredible weekend in politics. Lots of good things happened, but we also got a preview of what things are going to be like in a Trump Presidency.

Thursday Night

The weekend started Thursday night with a formal dinner. I just saw a couple of short clips of it, so I really cannot comment. But I hear it went well, except for a few protestors outside.

There was also a “Deplora-ball” that Rose Tennent (of the “Rose Unplugged” conservative talk show) attended. But she was leery to do so, as it was one of the balls targeted by protestors. And she did have problems getting into the ball due to them.

What they were protesting I’ll get to shortly, but I will say here that I support people’s right to protest. It is after all guaranteed in the Constitution. But it must be peaceful, not violent. But things started to get out of hand that night. Even blocking people from getting into an event goes beyond being peaceful. But at least their threats to release nauseous gas into the venue was averted by the authorities. But I didn’t hear if those who were planning that were arrested or not. I sure hope they were.

The Inauguration Ceremony

The Inauguration ceremony began with Invocations by three preachers and ended with Benedictions by three others. And liberals were already in meltdown mode beforehand complaining about how “religious” the ceremony was going to be. But there have been religious leaders giving Invocations and Benedictions at every Inauguration since at least 1937 (Prayers at United States presidential inaugurations).

I heard complaints about some of the preachers being less than orthodox from a Christian perspective, but I only knew one of them, so I cannot comment in that regard. There were also complaints about there being no Muslim Imans speaking. But since Trump is not a Muslim, that makes sense. Moreover, I was glad for that. The United States was founded on Judea-Christian views, not on Islamic views. And thank God for that, or we would not be the free country that we are. But there were preachers from several different Christian denominations and a Jewish rabbi. And that was perfectly appropriate for a country so founded.

Then the Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke. He had to give the litany of different types of people that the left is so found of repeating: male/ female, white/ black, rich/ poor, gay/ straight, and whatever other divisions they can think of. They think they are being “inclusive” by this litany, but in fact, they are simply perpetuating division. Why not be “color blind and gender neutral” (as Invanka Trump said about her father back at the GOP Convention) or “be judged by the content of your character and not the color of your skin” (as MLK famously said)? Or better, why not just say we are all Americans?

In any case, after that leftist nonsense, Trump finally spoke. And it was a great speech! He took it to the Washington establishment for their self-centered attitude over the past several years, thinking more about themselves than the American people. But I wish they had shown the crowd more, as I would have liked to see the establishment types squirming in their seats.

Then he took it to Obama in detailing the deplorable conditions the country is in. He didn’t mention Obama’s name, which was good, but we all knew that is who he was taking about, as Obama sunk into his chair. He mentioned about the poor economy, the porous borders, the sad state of foreign affairs, and how divided our nation is. But rather than the litany of differences the Dems are so fond of, he mentioned our unity and all us of working together.

Then was his “American First” slogan. He defined it as “We will buy American and hire American.” He also said that it was the responsibility of each nation to put themselves first. And he said we needed to be concerned about protecting our own borders rather than that of other nations. Though he offset that by saying we needed to update our relations with other counties, and that they needed to contribute their share towards their protection.

Then there were several references to God and even the Bible. That was so heartening to hear. Despite his off-color language during the election, I do think that Trump is moving toward being more Christian. Whether he has had a genuine Christian conversion is not for me to say. But I will pray for him in that regard.

He then ended his speech with a lead-up to his slogan “Make America Great Again.” We all knew it was coming, but it still drew boisterous cheers from the massive crowd.

As mentioned, the ceremony ended with three preachers giving prayers. The one preacher I knew was Franklin Graham. And one thing I have noticed is that he never passes up an opportunity to present the Gospel, and he did not disappoint here. He very appropriately quoted from 1Timothy 2:1-2:

¹Therefore, I urge first of all [for] petition to be continually made, prayers, intercessions, [and] thanksgivings, on behalf of all people: ²on behalf of kings and the ones being in positions of authority, so that we should lead a tranquil and quiet [or, calm] life in all godliness and dignity.

But he wisely did not stop reading there, but went on to read the next three verses:

³For this [is] good and acceptable before God our Savior, ⁴who desires all people [or, peoples] to be saved and to come to a full [or, true] knowledge of the truth. ⁵For [there is] one God and one Mediator [between] God and people, a Person, Christ Jesus, ⁶the One having given Himself [as] a ransom on behalf of all, the testimony in its own times (1Tim 2:3-6; ALT).

Thus everyone attending the ceremony and watching it on TV heard the Gospel. For that, I thank the LORD.

Afterwards

I felt aglow after Trump’s speech, until the analysis by the talking heads began. I was watching Fox News, and it was Charles Krauthammer who brought up that the phrase “America First” came from the 1930s and was an isolationist phrase. The 1930s! Did he really think Trump was thinking back 80 years, to a time that virtually no one alive today remembers, when he used that phrase? It seemed just silly to me, so I ignored his comments.

But as I’ve heard and read comments from the liberal media, they are in a tizzy over this phrase. It’s been called Nazism, Hitler-like, and other such derogatory phrases. I am really getting sick of the comparison to the Nazis and Hitler. Unfortunately, even Trump fell into that pit last week. Could we please get past comparing each other to the Nazis and Hitler? It does nothing to foster the above-mentioned unity that everyone wants.

Moreover, Trump is not student of history, as most people aren’t. I doubt he had any idea about the usage of that term 80 years ago, just as the vast a majority of people listening to his speech did not. None of us made that connection, as again, none of us were alive back then. And again, Trump defined what he meant by the term in his speech., and it had nothing to do with isolationism or Nazism.

As a translator of the Bible, I know that the definition of words must be based on how they are used at the time they are used and not be defined by how they were used decades or even centuries before or after. Reading into Trump’s use of “America First” how the phrase was used back in the 1930s would be like reading today’s definition of the word “gay” back into Deck the Halls (“Don we now our gay apparel”) or My Old Kentucky Home (“Tis summer, the people are gay”). It would completely change the intended meaning of that Christmas carol and the song sung before the Kentucky Derby, respectively.

The Rest of Inauguration Day

After the ceremony, Trump and other VIPs went to a luncheon. Most of it was blacked out, which was good. Let them eat in peace. But they did show the speeches after eating. And the highlight was Trump acknowledging Hillary Clinton. The liberals are still complaining that he did not do that during his Inauguration Speech, but it wouldn’t have fit the tone of that speech. But it did fit here, so it was good that he did so. That helped to calm down the media somewhat.

Then after much waiting and banter by the talking heads, came the parades. They were nice, as far as parades go. I’m not a big fan of such. But at least the talking heads on Fox shut up for the most part so I could hear the bands. But it took their producers shouting in their ears to get them to do so. Otherwise, they probably would have kept talking like often happens during parades and at halftime during college football games. We hardly ever get to actually hear the bands.

I recorded the evening balls but haven’t watched them yet. But I hear Melania Trump looked eloquent in her gown. Some said it was “Jackie-O-ish.” It will be nice to have classy (and gorgeous) First Lady again. And I want to see Sean Hannity in his tuxedo that he complied about having to wear all week, so I might watch some of the balls eventually.

The Protestors

In the background of this celebration of the peaceful transfer of power that makes the USA so great were the idiotic protestors. Again, I fully support people’s right to peaceful protest. But this was not a peaceful protest. Six cops were injured and much property was damaged.

I’ve never understood people who think they have the right to injure people and to damage the property of other people that they worked hard for. But such protestors don’t have any respect for human life and probably don’t have jobs, so they don’t understand any of that.

They also probably didn’t know why they were protesting. They were just protesting for the sake of protesting. And given their violence, it wasn’t possible to talk to them. Thus what was the point? Do they really think others will join their cause (whatever it was) when they see them throwing a rock through a window? It’s such nonsense. They were just criminals who were rightly arrested, to tune of over 200 of them.

The Women’s March and Abortion

The next day was the Women’s March. It should have been called the Liberal Women’s March, as that is what it was. Conservative women and especially pro-life women were not welcome.

But I do want to commend it for being a peaceful protest. Despite there being 100,000s, there was not a single arrest. It was thus possible to talk to them. And what they said made sense given the misrepresentations of Trump and the distortions of his policies that the liberal media have been propagating.

Most of the protestors said they were protesting because Trump was a racist, bigot, sexist, misogynist, homophobe, xenophobe, Islamophobe, or whatever other derogatory label they could think of. They also said they did not want their “rights” taken away, though none of them could point to as single “right” that was in jeopardy due to a Trump presidency, other than the right to an abortion.

Let’s be clear, there is zero evidence that Trump is racist, a homophobe, or a xenophobe. He has never mentioned race. He has never mentioned homosexuals, except to say he will protect them (thinking back to the night club terrorist attack). And I am so tired of people saying he is against immigration. Every time I hear that I feel like shouting, “HE’S MARRIED TO AN IMMIGRANT!” In fact, Melania is now only the second immigrant to be First Lady. The first was Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams (John Adams wife), who was First Lady way back in 1825 to 1829. Trump is against illegal immigration, not all immigration.

As for sexist, yes, he has made some crude remarks. But there are more female CEOs in the Trump organization than male ones. His campaign manager was Kellyanne Conway, who will now serve as Counselor to the President. He has also nominated several women to his cabinet. None of that sounds sexist to me.

As for abortion, my viewpoint is this: We today, living 150 years after abolition, rightly look back at the time of slavery with aghast. We simply cannot grasp how people could have been so depraved as to think it was okay to enslave other people. we are disgusted by the thought. Many today even vilify our Founding Fathers for not abolishing slavery at the founding of our country, ignoring the historical situation at the time that would have made that impossible.

My point is, I predict that 150 years from now, people will look at back at our age of legal abortion with the same aghast and disgust that we look back at the age of slavery. They will shake their heads in disdain at how we could have been so depraved as to think a child in the womb was not a human being. They will especially vilify those who protested for the “right” to kill a child in the womb. That is how the future will look back at this march.

We’re not to that point yet, but the election of Trump is a turn in that direction. But it will probably take this generation dying off before the attitude of the nation as a whole will be turned in this regard. This contrary attitude will be seen this coming Friday (1/27) with the March for Life, which I predict will not receive near the coverage the Women’s March did. In fact, the liberal media might just ignore it altogether.

The Numbers

As often happens after events in Washington DC, there have been debates about many people attended the Inauguration, especially as compared to how many attended the Women’s March. First, let me say I think such debates are quite silly. People have the attitude that how many people attend an event is a reflection of the support a particular person or position has or the enthusiasm therefor.

But in reality, what affects the attendance more than anything else is the weather. In this case, the weather on Inauguration Day was a bit crappy, though not near as bad as it could be for mid-January. But then the weather was much nicer for the Women’s March. It is thus no surprise that more people attended the latter than the former.

Adding to the difference is that the Inauguration was on a Friday, which is to say, a work day. And given that most of Trump’s supporters are conservatives who actually work for a living, not all of us could afford to take a day off of work to attend it. That is especially so given how many of us are suffering from depressed wages due to Obama’s failed policies. But the Women’s March was on a Saturday, when most people are off and can more easily attend such an event.

But even with those factors working against the attendance at the Inauguration, from what I saw, it was still massive.

The Prayer Service and CIA Speech

While the Women’s March was occurring on Saturday, Trump was attending a Prayer Service in the morning. I just happened to turn on my TV to see it was on, so I watched a few minutes then recorded the rest of it. But from what I saw, I must say, I would never be able to run for President.

What I saw was I believe a Sikh speaking in I assume an Indian dialect. I’ve noticed this before when Sikhs speak at public events and have never understood it. What is the point of preaching in a language that none of your listeners understand? But it did make me uncomfortable. For all I know, he was praising false gods, so that is when I shut it off and recorded the rest.

If I had been attending the event, I probably would have walked out. Either that or I would have tried to talk to him afterwards with the intent of presenting the true God and the Gospel to him. A Muslim Iman was also supposed to be speaking, and my reaction to him would have been the same.

The point is, I simply could not just sit there and pretend that the Christian preachers and the Sikh and Muslim preachers were all presenting the same message. They are not, not even close. But that attitude would not generate me to the masses, which is why I said I could never run for President.

In any case, then in the afternoon, Trump gave a speech to the CIA. I only heard a bit of it, but what I heard sounded very good. He praised the CIA agents and said the media’s claims about there being a rift between him and them was untrue. And from the applause, it sounded like the CIA agents in the audience agreed with him.

But as usual, they leftist media was not pleased with his speech and are compiling about it. They’re mainly defending themselves in saying that Trump and the CIA are at odds.

Sunday

On Sunday, Trump’s Press Secretary Sean Spicer lambasted the media for their attempts to make the crowd at the Inauguration look smaller than it really was. He said they showed the only area that didn’t have people in it to make it look like there were sparse crowds when in fact the whole place was packed. He claimed that the total audience for the Inauguration, those watching it in person and those watching it on TV worldwide, was greater than any previous Inauguration. He also castigated them for their false claims about Trump’s relationship with the CIA.

And that was it. He spoke for a couple of minutes then left the stage, without giving the press a chance to ask questions.

Needless to say, the media is really in a tizzy now. Article after article and newscast after newscast is declaring it is Trump that is presenting false facts, not them. And thus we see what it is going to be like—the White House and the leftist media at constant odds. It is truly going to be a wild ride.

Conclusion

It was an incredible weekend and one that portends things to come. Trump’s ideas sound great. If he can put them into practice, he will turn this country back from its current downward spiral. But the liberal media and political establishment will be fighting him tooth and nail the whole time.

I truly believe this is our last chance. If the liberal media and political establishment win this fight, then America’s downhill slide will be unstoppable. But if Trump wins, he just might Make America Great Again.

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The above article was posted on this website January 24, 2017.

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