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By Mel Rothenburger

Armchair Mayor

ROTHENBURGER: The Trump presidency is dead; long live a return to decency

Jan 20, 2021 | 9:58 AM

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN. It’s official. Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States today at an inaugural that went off with no hitches, certainly not of the type many feared.

On a chilly, windy day, Capitol Hill in Washington, DC was shuttered tight for the boiled-down version of what’s normally a big, festive occasion. Unlike the violence on January 6, today’s event was a clinic in avoiding chaos and keeping the peace.

COVID-19, of course, put a damper on the usual pomp and circumstance but everyone wore a mask and stayed reasonably distanced. Lady Gaga sang, so did Jennifer Lopez and Garth Brooks, and youth poet Amanda Gorman read an inaugural poem. Mike Pence was there. President Biden gave a good speech — not of the calibre of Kennedy or Lincoln — but an admirable call for truth (as opposed to “manufactured facts”), and an end to what he called the “uncivil war.”

And the significance of Kamala Harris becoming the first woman and first woman of colour to take the oath as vice president shouldn’t be under-estimated.

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If Biden and Harris really can accomplish healing, they’ll be miracle workers after four years of chaos under Donald Trump, who slunk off to Mar-a-Lago to lick his wounds, play golf and continue bleating about how the election was rigged against him.

We don’t yet know whether Joe Biden will be much better for Canada than Trump. At least Trump supported the Keystone XL pipeline; Biden intends to kill it.

But the world will surely be a safer place with Biden than it has been with Trump.

There is, of course, much speculation that Trump will rise again on another day, returning from the political grave to make life miserable all over again. Let’s hope not. Let’s hope Biden can succeed in the goal he so forcefully stated today — a path toward tolerance and harmony.

Goodness knows we’re all ready for it.

I’m Mel Rothenburger, the Armchair Mayor.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.