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Yesterday was largely the spectacle we expected. Trump took the oath of office, though he conspicuously did not place his hand on the Bible. He looked much older than eight years ago. While last time he was inaugurated, the event was outside before an unenthusiastic crowd, this time he chose the climate-controlled comfort of the Capitol and the company of supplicant billionaires.
Moments before the swearing-in, Joe Biden executed two final sets of pardons. The first covered a conspicuously incomplete group of people who Trump could target for political revenge. The second, coming in the final minutes of his presidency, provided sweeping immunity for five members of his immediate family. A presidency focused on the importance of norms ended with pardons that were anything but normal.
Trump’s inaugural address was a dark and pedestrian repackaging of the one he gave in 2017. It lacked the soaring rhetoric of traditional addresses given by other presidents and had none of the spontaneity and energy of a typical Trump rally.
What it lacked in style it made up for in lies. Among them, Trump claimed to want to “restore fair, equal and impartial justice under the constitutional rule of law.” Yet, once the festivities were done, Trump set about signing executive orders and pardons that undermine fair, equal and impartial justice.
To fully understand Trump, one must accept that he is not just a prolific liar, but a performative one. While most people lie to conceal something, Trump lies to reveal his true feelings. He wants his audience to know that he is lying to them. His bond with them is based on his supporters believing that they are in on something special.
When Trump says he will not seek retribution or persecute his political opponents, everyone — especially his more fervent supporters — knows it’s a lie. That is how he communicates that it is important.
In her seminal work, The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt described this complex system of signaling:
The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.
Donald Trump is not clever. He is not smart. He is not playing chess or even checkers. He was the kid who stewed over the fact that he lost at tic-tac-toe. He is just a particular type of liar who excels at giving his supporters the lies they want.
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LITIGATION
The opposition strikes back
Seconds (yes, seconds) after Donald Trump took the oath of office, lawsuits started posting on the federal electronic court docket in Washington, D.C. The first ones focused on the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which, despite its name, is not an actual department of the federal government. Whether it will increase efficiency is yet to be seen. These lawsuits claim that DOGE is governed by the Federal Advisory Committee Act — which was set up in the Nixon-era to ensure transparency for advisory committees. These lawsuits appear correct, but we will see what the court makes of this early effort to rein in Trump and his billionaire supporters.
NOMINEES
Cabinet of one
I have maintained for weeks that Marco Rubio was nominated to be secretary of state for two reasons. First, he is spineless and will do whatever Trump asks of him. Second, because Trump doesn’t care about the State Department. In a sign that no one really cares much about poor little Marco (as his boss calls him), he was confirmed Monday by the U.S. Senate without objection. He is now the sole confirmed cabinet official. If he is lonely, I’m sure J.D. Vance would welcome the company at the MAGA kid’s table.
DOJ
Looking for justice
One agency Donald Trump is laser focused on is the Department of Justice. Without a confirmed attorney general, the question was who will take control of the agency while Pam Bondi prepares to take over. The answer is James McHenry. By all accounts, McHenry is an immigration hardliner, which makes sense since Trump’s top priority is making mass deportations as cruel as possible. Sadly for him, he will have to wait for election denier Pam Bondi and children’s book author Kash Patel to be confirmed before the political investigations can begin.
JAN. 6
Pardon my pardons
As noted above, Biden may have set a record for unusual pardons, but it was quickly eclipsed by Trump’s mass pardon of people convicted of crimes related to Jan. 6, 2021. Though the full scope of the damage this will do to the rule of law and future peaceful transfers of power is unknowable today, it is certain to be a real blow to democracy.
NEWS
The initial opposition response is robust
This was likely the last inauguration in which legacy media played the leading role in shaping coverage. In fact, it may be one of the last major political events where that is the case. A combination of budget cutting, imprudent business decisions and moral decay among some billionaire owners and gutless executives has led to a rapid decline of the media’s influence. In a fitting sign of the times, the legacy media spent a portion of Monday afternoon struggling to say whether Elon Musk offered a fascist salute during his remarks at a Trump event.
Make no mistake, the right-wing has prepared for this moment by building and supporting a vast ecosystem of pro-Trump independent outlets. Democrats and liberals are playing catch up. It is important they do so — and fast.
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