Presidential Power Has Passed but Rebellion is in the United States' DNA

The New American Dream, that newly-sworn-in President of the United States Joe Biden (just roll that around your tongue for a second!) expounded in his Inauguration Speech a few hours ago, checked many fine, noble goals and virtues - all relating to the renewal of democracy and the repudiation of authoritarianism both domestically and internationally.

He reiterated that there was "so much work to do" rolling back Donald Trump's nightmare presidency via 15 immediate executive orders to combat COVID and climate change, and the neglect and sabotage of the needs and interests of the US People, including those even of his own supporters.

However, translating this laudable and inspirational speech, like all newly-inaugurated presidential speeches, into reality comes fraught with increasingly subtle challenges as well as known paths of negotiation and compromise.

Watching Democrats and Republicans come together in an effort to convey bi-partisanship and unity left a hollow feeling as if someone was missing at a wake - like a deceased who declined to attend his own funeral.

The Sourpuss-in-Chief waved as he got into an Air Force helicopter and disappeared - but not from the consciousness of 74 million Americans who voted for him, many of whom simmer with resentment still over their claim that the election was "stolen" by "voter fraud".

The lack of a cheering crowd down the Capitol mall due to COVID inevitably diminished proceedings, despite due solemnity enlivened by the familiar greetings of guests, celebrity performances and the startling brilliance of young inaugural poet Amanda Gorman.

With the presence of all living presidents (except Jimmy Carter too ill to attend and Trump himself), there was a sense that the presidential White House lease had been returned to its rightful owners from its insurgent occupiers. In the aftermath of the insurrection attacking the Capitol on January 6, red and blue US lawmakers appeared to unite for the first time in 4 years in the face of an assault on their temple of democracy. That was one step too far for former Republican Senate Majority Leader McConnell (who graciously presented the presidential pair Biden and VP Harris with a gift), and former VP Mike Pence whose presence signified the legitimate and peaceful transfer of power in Trump's absence, but was nevertheless a front and side-reminder of his former boss whose presence would have been akin to a bad smell at a wedding.

So, legitimacy restored, formal documents signed, a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery to honour the fallen, events continue throughout the day. The most significant actions are the signing of 17 executive fiats to roll back some of the most destructive and disruptive actions of the Trump presidency:

Biden's day one orders:

• Begin the process to rejoin the Paris Accords on climate change
• Order the U.S. to rejoin the World Health Organization
• Require masks to be worn on all federal property
• Ask the CDC to "immediately" extend eviction restrictions
• Revoke the Keystone XL pipeline permit
• Reverse the Muslim travel ban
• Move to strengthen DACA protections with pathway to citizenship
• Ask the Department of Education to extend student loan relief
• Temporarily halt oil and gas leasing in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
• Overturn Trump order excluding undocumented immigrants from census

- Axios Inauguration Day dashboard

Tick, tick, tick the boxes that will commence the "consequential presidency" of Joe Biden, and bring the United States back into the world as a good faith player ready to play fair and provide world leadership again by consent.

In the background for now, but hovering with intent, is disgraced former President Trump, who has already been quietly plotting his post-presidency course and come-back which will kick off in Florida at Mar-a-Lago, his fortress where, like a thinly-disguised William Randolph Hurst in 'Citizen Kane', he will mourn his *"Rosebud", his lost opportunity to achieve greatness. In time we shall hear from Citizen Trump again - and his **militias - but for now the far-right and its enablers the Alt-Right of America have been silenced.

PAMELA WILLIAMSON at Auckland, 11:51am NZT, Thursday, 21 January, 2021

Amendments: 5:43pm

*"Rosebud" reference: "Citizen Kane", Orson Welles' excoriating portrait of the decline of a thinly-disguised William Randolph Hurst the newspaper publisher and politician in his castle San Simeon.

** Trump is fielding the idea of forming the 'Patriot Party', a nod and a wink to the Far Right which idolises the word which to them means something quite different and threatening from its usual meaning in American lore, and which has co-opted it in memes that extol insurrection.