The left has heaped a lot of criticism on President Trump for his unwillingness to take part in the inaugural festivities of his successor, President Joe Biden.
They specifically ripped Trump for not attending Biden’s swearing-in ceremony, not greeting the new President at the White House and not making the traditional congratulatory phone call. When Trump left office, he did, however, follow the more modern tradition of leaving a letter at the White House for the new President. Perhaps we will know what it says by the time you read this commentary.
The opinion of the anti-Trump media is that the outgoing President’s actions were petty. Insulting … very small. But maybe not.
While Trump did not participate, he used his last days in the presidential pulpit to speak to the nation — at least to those not glued to CNN’s and MSNBC’s censorship of Trump. He spoke most notably in a recorded video and finally at Joint Base Andrew as Air Force One was about to shuttle the 45th President to his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida just hours before the noon swearing-in ceremony.
On both occasions, he understandably presented a litany of his accomplishments. Trump spoke of the great honor he felt to have served as President of the United States. He expressed his appreciation to his staff and supporters, with special praise for his Vice President, Michael Pence. He talked of the greatness of the American people and the American form of government. In one of the speeches, he condemned the violence that had occurred on Capitol Hill.
AND … he expressed his good wishes to the incoming administration and his confidence that America will continue to be a great and successful nation.
There was none of the rancor. He did not refer to the election. There were not grievances expressed. They were, by any standard, excellent departing speeches.
So, what about Trump’s not showing up for the ceremonies?
That might be considered a gift to the new President. While the left-wing press criticized Trump’s non-appearance, one should consider how they would have spun his presence. You can bet they would have been critical of Trump’s presence as much as they were by his absence.
They would have been complaining that he did not do more sooner. How his presence on the platform was hypocritical. They would have read anger in every facial expression. They could have accused him of overshadowing Biden at the peak of his career – distracting from the solemnity of the occasion.
If you believe that those trump-hating folks on CNN and MSNBC would have praised Trump for following tradition and saying what they claim are “the right things”… fuhgeddaboudit! That is because they are not broadcasting truth or honest analysis. Their spin machine runs anti-Trump 100 percent of the time.
Trump left office and gave his farewell speeches at times that did not interfere or upstage any inaugural activities. Other than that, he stayed silently in the background and let Biden have his moments.
Unfortunately, too many members of the press did not have the same respect for Biden. Even without Trump, they used every opportunity to intersperse snide remarks about the outgoing President. It has become clear that the #anti-Trump Resistance Movement has now transition into the #anti-Trump Revenge Movement.
If Biden believes that Republicans will be his biggest obstacle to national unity and comity, he might focus on his own left flank and his friends in the Fourth Estate.
So, there ‘tis.