John,
Finally, it is here! The day we’ve been waiting for, hoping for, praying for — the day Donald Trump finally left office. The day we have a new president, an ethical president, a decent president, a president devoted to bringing us together, not splitting us apart. It’s Inauguration Day in America.
President Joe Biden has now officially been sworn in as the 46th President of the United States. And Donald J. Trump is a bad memory.
It’s a new day, and a new chapter for our country. Starting today, we can begin to build back better and repair the immense damage done to our country, our citizens, and our democracy.
The past four years of the Trump presidency have been nothing short of disastrous, damaging, and indeed traumatizing.
The catalogue of abuses over the last four years is long and ugly, and includes when he imposed a discriminatory Muslim travel ban, removed the U.S. from the Paris climate accord, separated families at the border, tried to sabotage our healthcare system, attacked reproductive choice and LGBTQ protections, encouraged white supremacists and hate groups, brutally mistreated peaceful protestors, demonized the free press, undermined our elections, pushed countless lies and conspiracy theories, and utterly failed to address the COVID-19 pandemic, which has now taken more than 400,000 American lives. (This list is not exhaustive, sadly.)
And all of his lies culminated in one Big Lie — the falsehood spread by Donald Trump that he won the election. It was on that basis that he spent months attacking the very underpinnings of our democracy, and ultimately inciting an angry mob in Washington, DC to go to the Capitol and try to stop the peaceful transition of power.
We all saw what happened next.
We’ve got our work cut out for us, but as I listened to President Biden today, I felt hope. Hope for an end to the pandemic. Hope for an economic recovery that lifts up every American. Hope for healthcare that is universal. Hope for our planet.
With President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in the White House, as well as Democrat majorities in both the House and Senate, we have the power to clean up this mess, tackle the pandemic, and make long-awaited progress for our communities and country. We have been given a great responsibility, and we have to act.
Just think about what we can achieve together over these next four years: a rapid distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, stronger pandemic relief for workers and businesses, restoration of the Voting Rights Act, a $15 federal minimum wage, universal health care coverage, bold action on climate change, student debt relief, criminal justice reform, and protections to defend and build back our democracy and ensure a president like Donald Trump can never abuse this office again.
I’m ready to get to work. And I hope you are too. Because we need you.
Today is a bright, hopeful day for our democracy and country. And you helped make it possible. Donating, volunteering, organizing, voting. It all made a difference and led us here. Together, we made it clear: right still matters, truth still matters, and decency still matters.
Today, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we get back to work. Let’s go.
— Adam
