I cringed at other real Trump inaugural zingers: "When you open your hearts to patriotism, there's no room for prejudice." Well, maybe the Germans in Weimar could enlighten a little on that point.
The Military and God will protect us, he climactically intoned. Gott mit Uns! There were no black faces in this crowd. There was one Sikh!
Trump paraphrased General Ulysses S. Grant, speaking after the Civil War, about us all bleeding the same. However, he didn't acknowledge the General, later President, of course.
All Americans are from the same Creator, he intoned (I wonder what the turbaned, robed Sikh thought), and threw in two climactic "God Bless America"s at the end. More references to God than I would have expected.
I stood at the Veterans' Memorial at the corner of Desoto Avenue and First Street here in Clarksdale from 11:14 to 12:37 CST, during the swearing-in ceremony in Washington. I displayed a hand-lettered sign that said, "NOT MY PRESIDENT."
It was an experiment: I stayed that specific time because that was the time it took for 100 black drivers/passengers passing by the busy 3-way to respond in some way to the sign. Responses included everything from turning their heads around to read the sign while sitting at the intersection to high signs, honks, and supportive comments.
During that time, there were no negative black responses to the sign, and three people pulled over, joyously, to get pictures on their smartphones.
During that same hour and twenty-three minutes, I had 19 white people respond. Five of them, counting one young man in a pickup truck who came by twice to tell me to copulate with myself, and an elderly couple who displayed their middle fingers, made unprintable remarks or gestures.
There were four definitely positive white responses, all were from women. Four young men in red "Make America Great Again" hats in an elderly compact car did laugh and jeer, but they appeared to be in such glee that they had no real time to abuse holders of the opposite opinion.
This is Mississippi. But I think this place is probably representative of what white Trump voters are going to tell you anywhere in the country.
However, I would never have thought that my People would vote for such a repugnant gambling-industry representative.
Buyers' remorse is already setting in. Pretty soon it's going to be an epidemic.
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