Thoughts on Inauguration Day and MLK Day: On pardons, oligarchy, and good governance
Good afternoon from Washington, where I‘m staying warm watching C-SPAN.
As you may have heard, the ceremony was moved indoors and the parade was cancelled, along with a military flyover at noon. Canceling the inaugural parade means the time and money spent on viewing stands will be for naught.
I was a bit shocked the parade was cancelled. I support caution around public safety. Frigid temps will be dangerous for anyone who isn’t prepared. But U.S. military and cadets from the academies would have been able to handle parading — not so much for bands holdmg metal instruments or woodwinds going out of tune.
Americans who know how to bundle for sub-zero football games or rural life would have be fine, especially if supported by warming tents, commemorative blankets, and hot drinks funded with inaugural dollars.
There won’t be jumbotrons on the Mall, but I suspect folks who came to town will go there to see the profession from White House to Capitol and back.
Unless we see an obvious, grand gesture by Trump —the inaugural committee refunding all tickets, vouchers distributed using record-setting fundraising or his newfound crypto wealth — there will be a lot of frustrated, angry people who spent $$ & will be left in the cold, I fear some will take it out on DC & people here.
Reflecting
Over the weekend, I cycled down to the National Mall to work out my soreness from vaccination and a long hike Friday and was rewarded with the civic experience of seeing speech and counterspeech between protesters and Trump supporters in town for the inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial. lots of bigotry and anger, but no violence.
Fingers crossed that those conditions endure today and tonight. You can watch a raw feed of the inaugural ceremony on C-SPAN, beginning online, followed by the inaugural address.
A National Day of Service, Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt
On Friday, I took a long walk around downtown Washington to see how the city/state I’ve called home since 2009 looked before Inauguration Day, working out all of the complicated emotions I felt with exercise and inspiration was crucial.
Monument walks at night in winter always offer another perspective on art and history. Sitting atop the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, looking back towards the Washington Monument and US Capitol, is one of my favorite places in DC to go to think, dream, & reflect upon what was, and what yet may be.
The statues at the FDR Monument hit differently. I wonder how many Americans now know what life was like for our elders before Social Security, or during the Great Depression.
Former President Thomas Jefferson’s thoughts on religious freedom anticipate a nation of humans who worship many gods or none, not a union governed by a national religion. The separation of church and state will be further tested this century, likely in the coming years.
Dr. Martin Luther King’s gaze across the Tidal Basin to Jefferson is a reminder of the role that peaceful protest had in American history, bringing us closer to a more perfect union where “equal justice for all“ in a full democracy was not a hollow motto.
If you’ve forgotten, former President Obama’s second inauguration was also on Martin Luther King Day in 2013. MLK Day is “the only federal holiday designated as a national day of service to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve” our communities.
It will be interesting to see how all the Washingtonians who have the day will spend MLK day. I doubt many of us will go downtown, given cold, closures, and context.
What does a President “affirming” an Amendment mean?
As I told you last week, I had the opportunity to ask the Archivist of the United States and the staff at the National Archives whether they believed she had the authority to publish the 28th Amendment if the President told her to do so.
President Biden didn’t — but he did issue a statement affirming that the Equal Rights Amendment is “the law of the land.”
Constitutional law professor Lawrence Tribe hailed this action, arguing that the ERA became law in 2020 when Virginia ratified it, but this presidential affirmation looks more symbolic than formal. It will likely take a court challenge to establish if the ERA is now law.
Parting Warning: Beware the Tech-Industrial Complex
I watched President Biden’s farewell address online with my daughter last week. President Biden told us that he’s concerned an oligarchy is taking form.
He echoed Eisenhower, warning of a “tech-industrial complex” & the danger of concentrating of wealth & power among a few men.
I share his concern, though not his timeline.
The United States resembled an oligarchy at our founding, given that the influence of plantation owners and disinfranchisement of 94% of the people in the early states.
Centuries later, research shows billionaires “have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens…have little or no independent influence.”
Today, we see unelected American tech CEOs among Cabinet members in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, openly mixing tech billionaires with appointed officials.
I couldn’t help but think of a famous political cartoon from the Gilded Age that’s still apt for our Silicon Age…
…and a draft from Ann Telnaes.
Preemptive Tech Power, Unknown State Power
Last week, as I expected, the Supreme Court decided that “the challenged provisions of the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, 138 Stat. 955, do not violate petitioners’ First Amendment rights.”
Then things got …weird.
On January 19, 2025, power transitioned early, online. First, TikTok shut down in the USA, ahead of the Congressionally mandated deadline if Bytedanice did not divest. The company sent a message to everyone who tried to log-in that praised Trump.
Trump then posted about issuing an executive order today, over on TruthSocial, claiming he’d exclude companies from liability. TikTok then restarted, & praised Trump again.
TikTok is still up today, after resembling Schrödinger’s app — there, and somehow not there.
Today, I’m watching to to see if an executive order today can overturn an act of Congress that SCOTUS upheld. Will the 47th POTUS direct DoJ not to enforce the law?
If so, what other laws will Trump decide not to uphold, up to and including the Constitution he just swore uphold and defend?
Parting Irony: the Sound of Silence
Last week, the White House Office of Management and Budget published a memorandum on broadening public participation and community engagement with our federal government. I think it’s useful, and not just because staff incorporated some of my suggestions.
If you were subscribed to CivicTexts last year, you might have learned that the administration had asked us for feedback on how to engage the public better, held listening sessions, and unilaterally made delivering guidance a commitment on open government.
Ironically, the Biden White House didn’t engage Americans about drafting guidance on social media or its final promulgation, nor brief the press corps. The next will find it useful, if they focus on making public business more open and accessible to the public.
At bare minimum, I hope OMB keeps this simple site architecture for memoranda, but publishes all linked PDFs into HTML. In war, peace, disaster, or pandemic, all Americans benefit when a White House provides trustworthy info on a secure, open, accessible, & responsive .gov website. We will suffer if it doesn’t if secret orders and law become an undemocratic norm and reality.
Parting Preemptive Pardons
On his last day in office, now-former President Biden issued pardons for his family and for a number of other Americans. His statement:
Our nation relies on dedicated, selfless public servants every day. They are the lifeblood of our democracy.
Yet alarmingly, public servants have been subjected to ongoing threats and intimidation for faithfully discharging their duties.
In certain cases, some have even been threatened with criminal prosecutions, including General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, and the members and staff of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. These public servants have served our nation with honor and distinction and do not deserve to be the targets of unjustified and politically motivated prosecutions.
General Milley served our nation for more than 40 years, serving in multiple command and leadership posts and deploying to some of the most dangerous parts of the world to protect and defend democracy. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he guided our Armed Forces through complex global security threats and strengthened our existing alliances while forging new ones.
For more than half a century, Dr. Fauci served our country. He saved countless lives by managing the government's response to pressing health crises, including HIV/AIDS, as well as the Ebola and Zika viruses. During his tenure as my Chief Medical Advisor, he helped the country tackle a once-in-a-century pandemic. The United States is safer and healthier because of him.
On January 6, 2021, American democracy was tested when a mob of insurrectionists attacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn a fair and free election by force and violence. In light of the significance of that day, Congress established the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol to investigate and report upon the facts, circumstances, and causes of the insurrection. The Select Committee fulfilled this mission with integrity and a commitment to discovering the truth. Rather than accept accountability, those who perpetrated the January 6th attack have taken every opportunity to undermine and intimidate those who participated in the Select Committee in an attempt to rewrite history, erase the stain of January 6th for partisan gain, and seek revenge, including by threatening criminal
I believe in the rule of law, and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics. But these are exceptional circumstances, and I cannot in good conscience do nothing. Baseless and politically motivated investigations wreak havoc on the lives, safety, and financial security of targeted individuals and their families. Even when individuals have done nothing wrong—and in fact have done the right thing-and will ultimately be exonerated, the mere fact of being investigated or prosecuted can irreparably damage reputations and finances.
That is why l am exercising my authority under the Constitution to pardon General Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the Members of Congress and staff who served on the Select Committee, and the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan police officers who testified before the Select Committee. The issuance of these pardons should not be mistaken as an acknowledgment that any individual engaged in any wrongdoing, nor should acceptance be misconstrued as an admission of guilt for any offense. Our nation owes these public servants a debt of gratitude for their tireless commitment to our country.
My two cents: What prompted the pardons should occasion far more outrage than their existence.
Tech for Good: Emergency E-Bikes
I’m going to keep adding good news to these dispatches, since I expect it to be most welcomed. This weekend, I learned paramedics on DC’s emergency medical services have new rides: e-bicycles. I saw a squad zoom up Constitution Avenue as as a march ended.
Ebikes may help responders get lifesaving interventions quickly to 911 calls through crowds, closures, & traffic. They could deliver Narcan, an EpiPen, an AED, or trauma kits to where they are needed. They might even rush warmed blood, someday, saving more lives with transfusions.
What’s next?
This won’t be the last time you hear from me today. If reports proved to be accurate, we might see over 100 executive orders issued today. I’ll circle back on that, along with any other official actions we see. The new WhiteHouse.gov is live. The old one is archived by NARA.
As I said last year, my North Stars will be to establish what actions occurred, and what they mean for good governance and our democracy.
