Tragic Irony in the Rotunda
Donald Trump won the whole Monopoly game. He never went directly to jail and always passed go. Timid Merrick Garland, the attorney general, was no match and didn't even buy a railroad.
The Big Tech money boys were literally behind Trump, in obsequious unity as he was sworn in as president Monday at high noon in the Capitol rotunda.
The leaders of X, Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple -- Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, Sergey Brin and Tim Cook -- crammed into the grand sacred space under the dome of the U.S. Capitol. Statues and murals of truly great presidents, heroes of history, were staring from all around.
It would be absurd if it weren't so serious. These five men, billionaires who run the platforms that Americans rely upon for their everyday everything, are telling Trump he can count on them to be loyal courtiers. Dissent is not an option anymore.
The tragic irony was lost on few. The Capitol rotunda, the inner temple of democracy, was attacked by an armed mob Trump sent four years ago. He schemed to overthrow the 2020 election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
As noted, Trump's victory is complete. The events of Jan. 6, 2021, in which Congress fled the Capitol and 140 police officers were injured, faded from the popular mind and "social" media. So much for the peaceful transfer of power.
John Roberts, U.S. Supreme Court chief justice, administered the oath of office to Trump. He, other members of the Supreme Court and congressional Republicans were all smiles at this disrupter and disturber of the peace taking power again. The hypocrisy is rank.
On his first day in the Oval Office, Trump granted clemency to 1,500 Jan. 6 offenders with a stroke of his Sharpie pen and his scary signature. That includes leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, each convicted of seditious conspiracy and sentenced to 22 and 18 years, respectively. Now these extremist leaders are freed.
A dark thought escapes me: Is Trump expecting them to help him hold onto power in 2028?
The tragic irony of Trump, a convicted felon (thanks to a New York state judge and jury), erasing years of trials near the Capitol hits home for me. I was in the House of Representatives chamber when we heard the mob coming closer, breaking glass on marble floors, with a list of who they wanted.
Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence were lucky to get out alive that day.
With a Sharpie stroke, Trump also tried to open the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change. I know climate experts who have spent years on both projects.
Trump's cruel idea of abolishing birthright citizenship flies in the face of a country of immigrants. But you'd be wrong to think he doesn't mean any of these "day one" executive orders designed to destroy Biden's legacy.
Wait -- it gets worse for all of us who believe in decorum, grace and dignity on Inauguration Day. Never in American history has an incoming president acted so ungraciously to the outgoing president.
Biden, a sporting sort, had to take Trump's wild distortions of the state of the nation, which is actually in pretty good shape as he turns over the keys. Trump exaggerated the results and message of the election, as is his wont.
But did he have to say "horrible betrayal" to characterize Biden's presidency? Yes, he did.
Now we come to Biden's tragic irony.
Like Trump's "I alone" chorus, Biden's defiant ego led him to state that only he could defeat Trump. In 2020, he won under extraordinary circumstance. The pandemic prevented him from campaigning. People tired of Trump's haphazard rule.
Biden's pride and refusal to keep his promise to be a bridge to the bench of Democratic talent fell down like a house of bricks on the party, when he showed signs of dementia in the June 27 debate.
Kamala Harris was a default candidate, not battle tested. Summertime was too little, too late for the party to recover from Biden's blow.
========
The author may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.
----
Copyright 2025 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
Comments