MLK Day and Trump’s Inauguration

Trump is getting inaugurated for the 2nd time on Martin Luther King’s Birthday.

I had the privilege of visiting Martin Luther King’s birthplace and childhood home with his son several years ago in Atlanta. It was an incredible experience. Dr. King’s book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?, with its call for Universal Basic Income had a profound impact on me. Dr. King dedicated his life to combating three great evils: Racism, Poverty and War.

On the other hand, Trump is coming back to office and many who found him beyond the pale 8 years ago will be in DC to join the celebration and try and get on the administration’s good side this time around.

I’m not someone who regards Trump and his followers as universally malignant. I hope good things happen in the next 4 years under his watch, particularly when it comes to government bloat and waste. There’s a chance the enhanced child tax credit returns and lowers the poverty rate for millions of children. I see Trump’s re-election in large part as a repudiation of a Democratic regime that was overly bureaucratic and had insulated an unpopular, aging Joe Biden from accountability.

The announcement of the return of hostages and a cease-fire in Gaza is an example; there will be unreservedly positive things that unfold under Trump’s rule.

That said, I do fear an unfettered cult of personality that will cater to some of Trump’s lesser impulses. Mass deportations, crony capitalism, Cabinet picks that are more about loyalty than anything else, a continued erosion of institutional norms and a coarsening of the culture that extends well beyond politics. An America where the strong thrive and the weak are sidelined.

Wokeness had gone way too far and had failed to improve the lives of those it claimed to represent. I won’t miss it at all.

But we live in a country that is failing to live up to its promise for more and more. We certainly aren’t approaching the ideals that Dr. King championed and died for. We yet have so much potential that is going unrealized.

Can Trump improve the circumstances of the millions of Americans who voted for him and the millions who didn’t, beyond catering to their feelings and sense of identity? That is the test for the next 4 years. We will all find out the answer soon enough.