Up Close in DC.

Inauguration Day.

We are doing more than pushing "reset." We are celebrating the orderly transfer of power.

Everyone knows the rules. The winner wins and is sworn in. The loser hands over the keys. We are a mature democracy. 

Not quite.

Washington returning his commission

One president, and 35% of the country's people, no longer want it--not if the result of the election is that Trump is removed from office. Our nation's capital city is an armed camp to protect the government from a domestic enemy.

At the conclusion of the Treaty of Paris, George Washington, General of the Continental Army, handed back his commission to civilian authority. He could have been king or leader-for-life. He was popular. He represented continuity and stability. Washington said the power wasn't his to keep. It was on loan from the people, and he was returning it to them. It set a precedent and expectation. He was later elected president, and after two terms, said no more. He did not want to set a precedent that government was dependent on any one man, so Washington, a Virginian, was followed by his Vice President, John Adams, from Massachusetts. After one term Adams lost his election to his bitter rival, Thomas Jefferson. A disappointed Adams handed over the keys to his political enemy and returned home. More precedents established.

Election officials refused to back President Trump's assertions that he had won; the courts examined and dismissed Trump's assertions; states refused to overturn the election; the Congress refused to overturn the election. It was down to a final "hail Mary" hope, that the Vice President would refuse to recognize votes cast for his opponent.  President Trump said Michael Pence should--indeed must--disallow votes cast for Biden, so Trump could remain in office. Many Republican Members of Congress and officeholders around the country agreed that the Vice President has this power. The crowd Trump summoned to the January 6 rally cheered agreement, and they marched to the Capitol to demand it, some violently; one policeman being killed. 

A great many Republicans are on record insisting on new precedents--dangerous ones: Elections can be ignored, incumbent presidents can pressure state officials to "find" votes, state legislators can overrule their state's votes, state election certifiers have discretion to choose the president they prefer, and if all else fails, a Vice President can void state electors to maintain a president in office. 

As of noon today Kamala Harris will be Vice President. 

Dangerous people and ideas

I will watch the inauguration on television. A good friend from my youth, Jack Mullen, grew up in Medford, Oregon and now lives in Washington, D.C. He is in "Northwest," he told me, which he explained was an area of nice, older homes. He is five miles from the Capitol, but no closer to the inauguration than I am. He will watch on TV, too, by necessity. Washington, D.C. has blockades and checkpoints, plus layers of fences as one approaches the inauguration site. He could not attend even if COVID did not have him avoiding crowds. The seat of government is on lockdown. Authorities worry that some Trump supporters plan insurrection. People have come to the city with weapons. There is suspicious internet chatter.  Conspiracy rumors persist and people speak and write openly about assassinations. America needs to protect itself from Americans.

Jack Mullen was a high school athlete, a Peace Corps volunteer, an urban pioneer living in the Mission District in San Francisco long before it became hip and expensive. He moved to D.C. where, before COVID, he attended political events live and in person. But not this one. Too dangerous.

Guest Post by Jack Mullen

 

Jack Mullen

"All quiet in a city in lockdown"

 

I was in the eighth grade on January 20, 1961, when our American History and Civics teacher, Mr. Don Ferguson at Hedrick Junior High, brought his portable black and white television to class.

Medford, Oregon had only one television station at the time. The only time teachers ever brought TVs to class was to sneak peeks at World Series baseball games. Mr. Ferguson knew well that viewing the Inauguration of John F Kennedy would be an event that his students would treasure for the rest of their lives.

I recall on that cold Washington D.C. day, the poet Robert Frost, with hands shaking, read one of his poems. I felt sorry for him having to endure the bitter cold wind that almost blew his paper away. Then, after the swearing in of the President, we all intently watched as this handsome, young, vigorous President, speaking in such a firm voice, implored us to “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you could do for your country.” 

Candidate John Kennedy had me hooked the previous spring when he came to Medford as the Grand Marshall of the Pear Blossom Festival. I recall his opening line: “I may never be President of the United States but at least I can say I was Grand Marshall of the Pear Blossom Festival.” If I weren’t in awe enough of him then, his Inaugural oration sealed the deal.

I knew that I wanted to serve my country. My father did so during the Second World War when he served as a Naval medical assistant in the Pacific. My oldest brother served as an Army counter-intelligence officer during the Korean War. So when I came of age, I was fortunate to serve in the Peace Corps on two continents.

Now, living in Washington D.C. for almost five years, I so want to attend an Inauguration that, to me, ranks up there with the Kennedy Inauguration of my youth. However, Washington D.C. has been hit with a double whammy; a pandemic and a seditious insurrection. The only comparable Inauguration occurred in 1861 when Lincoln took the oath of office during a different insurrection. Yes, I’d like to be able to touch history, to travel the five miles from my home in the Upper Northwest quadrant of Washington, just to be able, now, to observe the blockade from afar, maybe take a photo or two. But those better angels that Lincoln spoke of have persuaded me to stay home.

Jack and wife Jennifer Angelo

Washington is a tense city. A Green Zone has been established for I don’t know how many square miles. 25,000 troops are on vigil for any hint of possible danger. The last thing any one young troop assigned to protect the Inauguration needs is some guy clicking a camera and possibly, in their eyes, casing the scene for some sort of nefarious action on January 20.

I have three jackets, two that reflect my old Medford High colors, red and black; my third jacket is green that I wear to University of Oregon football games. If I were to don any of these jackets I’d look suspicious to a dutiful guard. My red jacket worn with my San Francisco 49er hat would signal MAGA from afar. My black jacket would make me a possible Proud Boy. And the green could signal some sort of militia type military camouflage that we all saw sprinkled among the mob that seized the Capitol on January 6. My better angels tell me those young patriots guarding our nation’s capital don’t need any distractions and my presence from even up the street would raise some suspicion, as it should.

Living in Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day now means staying home glued to the television set. The only hint I that I live in Washington on this historical day may come in a quiet mid-morning sound of some sort of 21-gun salute as Donald J. Trump takes off for Mar-a-Lago for good.

As I took my morning walk today, my neighbor from across the street, seeing me in my 49er red hat, yelled, “Jack, be sure and don’t wear that hat downtown today!”