Trump’s inauguration was a spectacle of Pure White America – brace up for more

For Exhibit B, any shot of the second Trump inauguration would qualify. In a sea of White, Donald Trump, the leader, this time chosen by the people (he got the popular vote), stood vindicated as he doled out policy directions to an actually impressive crowd — listening without being told to; listening, with hands clasped in readiness to applaud him; listening with bated breaths for the next stroke of Pure White American genius that leaves his mouth. “From today, America will only win,” Trump declared he was met with loud, echoing chants of “USA! USA!”.

The distance of legitimacy — missing from the scene at National Hall, screaming in our faces at the Capitol — was covered through a decade of marvellous rhetoric and a few shots that captured its impact in action.

A man dismissed offhand as “not a real option for America” before his election, and an aberration after it, now stands as the first Republican president to have the popular mandate since 2004. As he dissed his predecessors and made proclamations of undoing everything they have built, most jeered, others (the predecessors in question) sat stunned, miffed. How we — how he — got here is a complicated question. But yesterday’s spectacle and a few before, during and after, lend some clues.

In the same Capitol where Trump took his oath for office, four years ago, similar chants of “USA, USA” were ringing out. On January 6, 2021, after Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and subsequently cried hoarse about a conspiracy against him, his supporters attacked and invaded the US Capitol building. There again, the camera captured faces with vindication written across them. In one of his first acts after assuming office, he pardoned all those who, in his name, attacked the primary site and symbol of American democracy. This is one of many ways Trump and Trumpism have enabled, endorsed and legitimised acts that are fundamentally incongruent with the values of democracy. In her address, US Senator Amy Klobuchar emphasised the endurance of American democracy despite it all — and offered a jibe and a balm — to Trump and Americans respectively — saying: “We will witness a peaceful transfer in the heart of democracy”.

As the glory of January 21 made abundantly clear, Trump has arrived. With him, he has brought a camp of billionaire tech-bros who are bending over backwards to serve his interests in return for the unfettered right to profit, YouTube and Spotify sensations that champion loud machismo and a return to tradition, Supreme Court justices who have been granted pardons in his name and a new age of White supremacy and American exceptionalism. Elon Musk’s alleged Nazi salute (twice!) captures the perfect picture of impunity that comes with being in Camp Trump in the golden age of America.

So as we gear up for a presidency of spectacles, the inauguration ceremony could be instructive in answering one question: Which America’s Golden Age is it?

sukhmani.malik@expressindia.com