The shadow of the last 4 years

It is done (finally, whew!) - Donald Trump is no longer President and Joseph R. Biden, Jr. ,as the 46th President of the U.S., and the historic Vice President Kamala Harris (as the first African-American female Vice President) were sworn in in the 59th Inauguration ceremony in Washington D.C. this morning. Today's inauguration, sparsely populated due to the Coronovirus but displaying the theme of unity, democracy and truth, was a stark contrast from the crowd-mobbing and ambivalent atmosphere struck at the 58th inauguration four years ago where President Trump was sworn in after months of citizenry protests on the streets and the women's March which began on January 21, 2017. Now, President Biden is faced with the daunting challenge of reversing the horrible dividing and polarizing policies of Trump the last four years. The Time headline aptly read, "Set to fulfill his life dream, Biden inherits a nightmare. "(Jan. 20, 2021)

It is unbelievable that the last four years were steeped in such darkness -- Trump's rhetoric and policies based on racism, division, discrimination and stigmatization and misinformation led to the rise of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, racial riots and the protests against police brutality; the Muslim travel ban implemented in the beginning of 2017 under Executive Order 13769, which revoked visas of travelers from seven Muslim countries (Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Syria) was shocking enough. There were also troubling headlines regarding family separations at the U.S.-Mexico border, the rise of detention centers for migrants, undocumented immigrants and asylees, and increasingly draconian practices by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) to return these populations to their countries of origin. These unfathomable and cringeworthy policies that circumvented and undermined the rule of law and international norms of international institutions undercut the U.S.' reputation as the democratic leader of the world order. Other failed policies such as the failed diplomacy with North Korea and its dictator Kim Jung Un to isolationist policies that alienated the U.S. from its allies on the international stage such as pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords and the WHO - underscore skeptical and protectionist stance of President Trump in his approach to foreign policy which ultimately undermined American exceptionalism. Yet, U.S. leadership in the international arena, since the end of World War II, has rested on guiding principles of democracy, multilateralism and alliance-building as well as embracing foreigners and immigrants. The poetic inscription "Give me your tired, your poor, and your huddled masses as they yearn to breathe free" at the Statue of Liberty -serves as a pointed reminder of what U.S. democracy is about and what really sets us apart from the rest of the world in a way.

But what is most heart-breaking is the human toll of President Trump's policies on the lives of U.S. citizens. Just look at the Coronovirus and the hundreds of thousands of lives that could have been spared if the President had acted sooner and with more foresight to enact policies to promote the safety and well-being of Americans instead of downplaying the seriousness of the epidemic and spreading misinformation. For months, this epidemic dragged on without a real, concrete response from the Trump administration. Furthermore, look at the toll of Trump's policies on undocumented immigrants, for example. In the New Yorker, I read an article by Sarah Stillman, a MacArthur fellowship recipient and a Professor at the Columbia School of Journalism who highlighted a tragic story of a young Mexican undocumented woman who was deported under the draconian policies of the Trump administration by a CPB agent for her failure to carry a driver's license. She was subsequently deported to Mexico, where she was killed by her former abusive boyfriend who was in a gang who had previously been deported. This is just one story out of a million stories where Trump's policies based on his racism, bigotry, misinformation and misogyny had a devastating effect on a human life. Or what are the cases of funding which was cut off to women's clinics in developing countries in Africa and other regions of the world so that women were prevented from accessing critical abortion services or contraception or health screenings?

The last dark four years of the Trump presidency and his demagogic rhetoric culminated in a riot and insurrection by pro-Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol two weeks ago, where 5 lives were lost and a severe assault on democracy resulted. I read Facebook posts where users wrote the word PTSD to describe how they felt after the riots at the Capitol and the election chaos. What are other countries supposed to think after these mounting displays of division, diminishing of rule of law, appeal to demagoguery and extremism stoked by President Trump himself? How is the U.S. going to salvage its reputation in the international arena? How is the U.S. supposed to win the trust of its allies again nd establish credibility in the minds of its adversaries in the world? It is going to take a lot of work and a concerted effort by President Biden and the newly-appointed members of his administration to engage in multilateralism and promote policies that seek the welfare of all based on the principle of e pluribus unum (one out of many) -- only by doing so can the U.S. begin to heal once again from the darkness, shadows and division that marked the last four years and emerge stronger and united, domestically and in the international arena. If you liked this story, feel free to leave a tip so I can continue writing and ruminating! =)