From Green Eagle:
I now must try to deal with something which will seem innocuous to many, but is by far the worst abomination yet perpetrated by Trump. I have been thinking about this for several hours, since I first heard about it, and for once in my life I find myself unable to muster words that describe the true evil and danger of this course of action, but it must be addressed, so here I go.
It was revealed today that, immediately after the inauguration, Trump issued a proclamation declaring his own inauguration day to be a “National Day of Patriotic Devotion.”
“Now, therefore, I, Donald J. Trump, president of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim Jan. 20, 2017, as National Day of Patriotic Devotion, in order to strengthen our bonds to each other and to our country…
There is no freedom where the people do not believe in it; no law where the people do not follow it; and no peace where the people do not pray for it.”
The declaration does not apply to inaugurations in general, only to his. This is not about the country, it is about Donald Trump himself. It is Trump who is to be the target of patriotic devotion.
Others have pointed out that Obama declared his own inauguration day a “National Day of Renewal and Reconciliation.” That’s a far cry from “patriotic devotion,” but the act is similar. No one really remembers or cares or celebrates it, so “true evil” and “danger” are probably exaggerations here. The problem as I see it is that Trump thought the term appropriate (and specifically appropriate for his own inauguration) at all–but the GOP has long enjoyed this kind of rhetoric, empty as it may be.
Let’s focus more on the things that *definitely* matter. There’s no shortage here.