Greetings and Salutations;

At Noon today,  the deed was done.  President-Elect donald was sworn into the office.    This inauguration has been a reflection of the campaign and election.   For example,  the CLAIMS presented by the Donald, and his cultists over the past week or two,  were that D.C. was going to be over-run with his voters, that there were a million “Bikers for Trump” that were going to show up and stand on the parade route,  forming a “wall of meat”  (and yes,  that WAS what they said)  to keep the dozen or so protestors away from the Donald  and that it was going to be the most amazing inauguration that has been seen in the Nation’s Capital.

Well,  to no one’s surprise,  things did not quite work out that way.   Last week,  reports started circulating that no one was buying tickets to the events.  So…the Republicans started giving them away.   Still…almost no one was taking them.   At least one reliable source reported that several people had been offered cash to hire  folks to get them into the seats.   Now,  that may or may not be true…however, it is a fact that the donald took out paid ads on FaceBook and other Social Media,  begging people to come to the event!  What, then,  did the Mall look like when the Donald took the oath?   Here is a aerial picture from about the same location,  showing the Mall and the crowds in 2009 when Pres. Obama was inaugurated,  and in 2017,  for the donald’s ceremony.  See any difference?

 Now,  Just in case  y’all think this is faked, or an unusual thing….Here are  a couple if images  of the Parade after the swearing in.

 

After the ceremony,  the Donald read his first speech in the Office.   Now,  the sad thing was that it was, basically a clone of talking points from his campaign speeches.   While he did talk a bit about America coming together and such…it is hard to look at a speech involving a raised fist and think of eliminating division in the country,  and,  getting us to play nice together.

Also,  not only did he slag America again, with the old themes of how it was falling apart, and overrun with drug dealers and thugs,  but,  he said, in no uncertain terms,  that from now on…it was “America First”  in any interactions with the rest of the world…Foreign Policy,  working with companies,  etc.   He also said that the Military was a shambles as it had no money and he was going to really fund it.    Talk about winning friends and influencing people!   Listening to the BBC in the afternoon,  I heard several allies speaking with concern about how this sort of rhetoric and attitude was going to change their relationship with America.   I hope that someone sane sits the Donald down and explains to him that we are FAR from powerful enough to be able to bully the entire world around without there being serious consequences for the country!    America has flirted with Isolationism in the past,  and it has never ended well.

I am reminded of an old saying that has been a part of my life for decades – “An elephant can kill five men in a heartbeat…but a swarm of Army Ants will kill the elephant and not even slow down”.   We might be able to take on ONE or TWO countries,  but if a majority of the countries present a united front,  America will be gone in a few months.

God Help Us All

Bee Man Dave