A Change in Direction – Inauguration 2017

And so the 2016 Presidential Election have finally came to an end. Donald J. Trump was elected by the Electoral College, beating Hillary Clinton despite her having more popular votes. Unfortunately for Clinton the president is selected by the Electoral College, not the overall popular vote.

Today I watched the inauguration for most of the day. I had to laugh a bit at all the people saying not to watch it, or coming up with ideas such as leaving their television sets on because it would “drive Trump crazy” over low ratings. Ignoring the fact that they efforts wouldn’t have had any bearing on the ratings,

I have news for them. Trump couldn’t care less. He was the one with his hand on the Bible. It he who took the Oath of Office. It is he who will be sleeping in the White House tonight.

People are already comparing photos of today’s crowds with those of Barack Obama’s first inauguration, using that as some kind of indication that  nobody was there.

It makes no sense to compare the two. First off, the weather was terrible compared to way back in 2009. But, beyond that, you cannot compare the inauguration of the first African-American president with today’s event.

The 2009 crowd, estimated to be around 1.8 million people was the single largest event crowd ever in assembled in the United States. But, let’s be honest. How many of those people were there because he was the first African-American president? I don’t say that to be mean or racist. It’s on honest question. Heck, if I lived on the East Coast I might’ve even made the effort to be there.

Don’t get me wrong. I was not a Trump supporter. But, I look at all these efforts to somehow diminish the situation, or even somehow reverse it, and shake my head. He will be the president of the United States for at least the next four years, unless he resigns or is impeached and removal from office. 

Let him have his day today. Tomorrow will be a new day, and the first day of the 2020 Presidential Election campaign.

So what did I take from today’s speech and festivities?

When Trump was inside the Capital he ha a glazed look on his face. The same look that he had back in November when it first hit him that he’d won the election. That night he seemed rather magnanimous in his victory speech, and more subdued. I was wondering whether he would repeat that today. Turned out to be not so.

The speech was less of an inauguration speech, and more of a campaign speech with some of the words tweaked for the occasion. I said that to myself just a few minutes in. None of the political commentators said the same thing until legendary Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward did a few hours later, which was reassuring.

The president usually uses the speech as an opportunity for reconciliation throughout the country. Not so with this speech.

Trump painted a rather gloomy picture of the current state of the American country, and went on to pledge to eradicate ISIS from the face of the Earth.

I’m hoping that I am wrong. But, after hearing that statement I’m going to predict there will be “boots on the ground” within Syria and western Iraq by the end of 2017. Those of you who voted for the man and have children of prime drafting age should be saying your prayers now because efforts to reestablish the draft cannot be far behind.

Trump has made known some of the goals during his first 100 days in office.

Obamacare, in its current form, will be going away. But, the question is what will be left? The Republican controlled government is ready to repeal Obamacare with nothing to immediately replace it. But, there are undercurrents that this might not happen immediately. In fact, the first executive order signed was to “ease the burden” of Obamacare. What that exactly meant is unclear, and nobody is talking tonight.

The item with the biggest impact on our nation for the long term is filling the vacancy in the U.S. Supreme Court created by the death of Anton Scalia.

As of last fall Trump had a list of twelve candidates he considered to be his short list. Hopefully, he has had unofficial conversations with those people so that the list is whittled down to two or three names, and we can move forward.

Mind you I’m not suggesting there should be a rubber stamp of whomever he places into nomination. But, I’m hoping the opposition can be mature enough to have their hearings, and then vote.

Tonight Trump took a few moments to rail on the press. I had hoped the rhetoric was going to slow down. But, it hasn’t. I can’t even blame it on a few too many celebratory glasses of champagne since Trump does not drink alcohol.

My prayers for the next few days is that protests will be peaceful. You have an absolute right to protest. But, you do not have the right to willfully take a baseball bat or ball pin hammer to a store front. If you do not want to police breaking up a protest then police yourself. It is the anarchists amongst you who are forcing them to react.

The Slut Shaming of Melania Trump

It’s been quite a while since I blogged. Election night I nearly fired one off which was more full of expletives than content. But, better judgment prevailed, and I went to bed instead.

Over the last four days I’d decided to forgo comments on the election as there are certainly plenty to go around. But, something has come up in the last few days that has caused me to break my silence. Sadly, it doesn’t even have to do with the election itself..

Rather, it’s about the usage of images Donald Trump’s wife posed for years ago. Years before they’d ever met, and when she was living in London.

For the few that have no idea what I’m talking about, prior to meeting her husband, Melania Trump was a model. She posed for a couple nude photo spreads, one even included another woman. This was 21 years prior to the election, and before she had ever met her husband, came to the United States or became a United States citizen.

During the election a spat flared up between Trump supporters and those of then presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Someone posted unflattering, non-nude, photos of Heidi Cruz, which was countered by nude photos of Melania Trump. Arguments went back and forth about who started it. Things seemed to die down as other more important controversies reared their ugly heads.

But, things changed once Trump’s stunning upset happened.

I have seem multiple posts on Facebook and Twitter by people asking if she was the type of First Lady we wanted? The posts usually included Trump’s nude photos. These posts were typically done by people who would label themselves Liberal, and some who even made the point they were Christian.

When challenged on why they felt the need to post the photos, answers varied. Some said it was to illustrate Trump’s double standard of conservative Christian values only to marry a porn star. Some it was to compare her with the current First Lady, Michelle Obama, showing a lack of class in Trump.

But, I’m not buying it. The zealousness of which they’ve been posted suggest it’s being done as some kind of weird retribution against her husband winning the election.

The term slut-shaming was first coined in Finally, a Feminism Blog 101 way back on April 4th, 2010. It can be defined as “…the idea of shaming and/or attacking a woman or a girl for being sexual…” Certainly, nude photos could fall under that broad definition.

One person clarified she didn’t have anything wrong with her posing nude. But, if that’s the case one has to wonder about the logic of using Trump’s photos in such a bad light, especially when being used to emphasize a point against her husband.

Probably the most common form of slut-shaming occurs when ex-boyfriends or husbands post photos of their former lovers. Photos, which the women never intended to see the light of day outside of the bedroom. They shared their most intimate images for whatever reason, likely with the idea it would be only between them and their closest friend, only to have that trust broken after the relationship went sour.

People have sued, and those lawsuits have decided in their favor. Posting such images, without a person’s consent, is a violation of privacy and could be considered defamation.

Granted, Melania Trump was paid for her photo spreads and the images are readily available on the Internet. But, I will argue that what people are doing with her photos is just as bad and tantamount to slut-shaming.

Further, let me ask this.

To you mothers. If your daughter gave an ex-boyfriend photos, and he posted those, would you think that was OK? After all she gave them to him for his pleasure. Of course not.

To you husbands. If your wife’s ex-boyfriend posted photos of her on the web without her permission, how would you feel? I’m betting pretty angry.

What is the difference between those two scenarios and what you’re doing when you post Melania Trump’s 21-yr-old nudes considering they weren’t given directly to you?

There isn’t any.

You might respond with “Well, she was paid for those. She knew they’d be freely available; especially the ones in GQ Magazine.”

Interesting argument. But, the thing is that YOU didn’t pay for those photos. Someone else did.

It’s time for you to look at your actions if you are one of those that chose to use these photos, or are considering doing such.  Look deep down inside your soul at what your true motivation was. Ask yourself had your candidate of choice been in the same circumstance would you have been so eager to post the photos? If the answer is no then you’ve illustrated my point.

Let me close by addressing the suggestion that I’m just some typical white male Trump supporter. I will say that Donald Trump was not my first choice for president, and leave it at that.