Inauguration 2021

The elephant in the room is a donkey. After a party got out of hand at the United States Capitol, we’ll have to watch the 59th presidential inauguration online, behind fences and firewalls.

Of course, in true American fashion, this pan-auguration has the usual celebratory and celebrity lineup — JLo and Lady Gaga performances, wreath laying at Arlington Cemetery and a primetime special featuring Kerry Washington are on the schedule. However, the somber quieting of covid and the correlating economic strife and emotional stress is keeping the rest of us indoors.

District of Columbia residents, especially, are barricaded. There are quite literally 25,000 national guard troops and barricades placed in a perimeter around the heart of the city to protect President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as they are sworn into their new positions two weeks to the day after a putsch. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a State of Emergency and Acting Police Chief Robert Contee has encouraged everyone to stay home and stay clear of the Capitol due to the “national security threat” of domestic terrorism.

Nonetheless, watching anything online is a participation sport that, for this event, includes the Administration’s social challenge to wear a mask for the first 100 days of the “new year.” District residents, ever hopeful, are resolute and encouraging everyone to join in with the tags #100DayMaskChallenge, #VirtualParade, and the Biden-Harris slogan, #AmericaUnited.

The elephant in the room is a donkey, after all.

Photo by Bryant's Juarez