Live-blogging the Trump Inauguration

by Katie Sharp

Like a lot of people, I’m currently preparing for Trump’s inauguration. I’m waiting for the events to begin, with a notebook in hand, and to be quite honest I’m not sure what I’m expecting. Will Trump reveal himself to be an impostor, will the The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse arrive, or will it be a genuinely normal inauguration, I don’t know. I have a bingo square that I made from common Trump phrases and actions at the ready, including some phrases that the bookies have identified as likely. If you bet for “Make America Great Again” to appear in Trump’s speech, you would make almost no profit- it is almost guaranteed that he’ll say this.

16:15- thinking about how great Michelle Obama was over these past 8 years. And Joe Biden. And Barack Obama, of course. I can’t believe that they’re actually leaving so that Trump could take the presidency. I guess they have no choice though, but I think that Obama would have been being sworn in for his third Term right now if it was possible.

16.24- Obama and Michelle have left the White House for the last time. I’m going to miss Obama’s jokes, like the video of his birth (aka, the Lion King) that he played at the White House Conference.

16:27- Trump looks remarkably miserable for a man who is about to become the most powerful man in the world. He definitely doesn’t have a face as friendly-looking as Obama.

16:28- Pence’s hair is as white as the new Cabinet. The cheering for him isn’t as loud as I had thought it would be. One solitary wolf-whistle.

16:31- Trump looks grumpy and gave the camera an awkward thumbs up

16:32- Obama has been civil to Trump and I don’t know how he is managing it. To be the first Black president, only to be followed by Trump- it must be sad for him.

16:33- The inauguration begins…

16:39- Just remembered that the American public successfully allowed George W. Bush to be president for two terms. Hopefully there isn’t a repeat of that.

16:53- Pence to take his oath. In some angles, Pence doesn’t look quite human.

16:54- I can’t believe that Pence replaced Joe Biden. Does that mean that right now, Pence is Obama’s VP?

16:55- More patriotic choir singing. I know that for some, this is a great and emotional occasion that should last as long as possible, but I personally would like this to be over as soon as possible.

16:58- I’ve changed my mind, I wish this choir would sing forever if it meant that Trump was never sworn in as president.

16:59- God help us all.

I can’t believe he’s actually taking the presidential oath.

(from The New Yorker)

17:00- Well, Donald J. Trump is officially the US president, Obama is the former president.

17:01- the BBC voiceover just cheerfully reminded me that Trump now has the nuclear codes. Thanks, BBC.

The camera panned to a girl in the audience who was yawning quite hard, and I can relate with her.

17:02- Trump’s speech begins, I’ve already crossed off a few of my bingo squares.

17:03- Obama looked so sad and I’m so disappointed with this entire scenario.

Is Trump suggesting that he will move the White House from D.C.?

Oh, I believe it’s a metaphor. I wouldn’t be surprised if it moved to Trump Towers though.

17:04- Trump is talking like he isn’t part of the elite establishment. He basically is the elite establishment.

The poor won’t get out of poverty when a billionaire is president. He makes money off of them.

17:05- “20th January 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again,”- even though he didn’t win the popular vote, so the people aren’t really ruling then…

“This is your country,” does he mean everyone? Or just the people he wants to be Americans? Time will tell.

17:07- He’s still making his hand gestures, and I can’t focus on anything else.

17:08- There was an awkward pause where it looks like he was expecting applause…

OK, I see that he will cut foreign aid spending.

“We’ve made other countries rich!” (off of the backs of the middle class)- did Bush really make Iraq rich? Did he help the people of Iraq?

17:09- He is suggesting that foreign aid has caused the increase of poverty in America. Foreign aid is only a small fraction of the money that is spent on America’s warfare, but he didn’t mention cutting that.

17:10- ‘America First’- wow.

So, Farage, where is the help for Britain that you had promised would come from the US.

17:11- “They’re destroying our jobs”- Donald, you could argue that they’re taking your jobs, but they certainly aren’t destroying them.

“We will bring back our wealth and our dreams” a nice, stock phrase for a right-wing politician.

17:12- Trump seems to have forgotten that the reason Americans don’t manufacture as much is because American workers are more expensive and less efficient than in sweatshops. Hypocritical of him, considering that his merchandise is made in China.

17:13- There we go, Trump is going to destroy ISIS.

“There is no room for prejudice” even though that was your entire campaign.

17:14- “There should be no fear”. I mean, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m a little scared.

“We will be protected by God.”- because that definitely has worked for everyone in history ever.

17:16- “We all bleed the same blood” doesn’t have the same meaning when he has spent his campaign calling Mexicans rapists, drug-dealers etc.

17:17- “You will never be ignored again!” OK, do you plan on fixing Flint’s water crisis? I will happily eat my words if you do.

17:18- Of course he would finish with variations of “We will make America great again!”

17:20- So when Trump said that post-Brexit Britain would be first on the list, he meant because they aren’t actually going to work with anyone.

17:22- I’m sort of surprised that has gone this smoothly. No assassination attempts.

17:26- Michelle looks sad. I don’t blame her. She was such a classy First Lady.

17:27- I have a feeling that the national anthem feels different today, especially to any minority groups in America. Obama has heard it so many times but it must feel wrong now.

17:28- Goodbye, Trump. I hope he does take the weekend off, like he said, so that we can forget about him for a few days.

17:29- Such a classic right-wing speech- ‘We’ll restrict the borders! We’ll take back our jobs! America for Americans!”

17:30- I’m not particularly appreciating the fact that people keep referring to the previous White House workers as the establishment that Trump is fighting, when every bit of Trump is part of the establishment.

17:31- I don’t agree with how they are talking about the jobs issue. The presenter is talking about bringing back jobs that are being carried out by cheap labour in the Philippines and in Mexico, like the problem is the fact that they’re taking American jobs- the real problem is the fact that American companies, including Trump’s, are able to exploit the workers to make them do hard labour for little pay. It’s appalling that the poverty and unemployment in America is being blamed on these poor labourers- America should help close the loopholes that allow employers to exploit their desperate workers overseas.

17:32- I wonder if Britain First is annoyed that Trump has been using their slogan.

I didn’t fill out my bingo square, which is disappointing. My bingo square was filling with the more “amusing” things that Trump has said and done, but he didn’t mention much of it. His speech seemed a lot shorter than Obama’s inaugurations were years ago.

17:40- Goodbye, the Obamas.

Barack Obama- you were a pretty good president (at the very least, a decent president and a good man), so, unironically, thanks Obama.