Four years ago I sat in a local Westminster pub called the Red Lion on a Friday afternoon as Donald Trump took the oath of office. I could hear the giggles and laughs from the patrons of the Conservative bar as this failed steak salesman became the forty-fifth President of the United States. 

To be clear, I did not start the day at the pub. I left the office as the ceremony began. I walked across the street and grabbed a pint. I sat turned towards the window and drank the last easy pint of the next four years. From the moment his hand lowered after taking the oath of office, that man was the President of the United States and Commander-in-Chief of the United States armed forces. That moment marked the true beginning of the first wave of Trumpism. 

It should not surprise anyone to learn that I did not have high hopes for the Trump presidency. He spent his entire presidential campaign appealing to the absolute worst of American society. He kicked open doors that decent Americans have been struggling to close for decades. Four years ago today Richard Spencer, noted American Nazi, held a conference in a DC hotel just feet from the White House as he, and his fascists, felt safe enough to publicly "Sieg Heil" Trump in celebration of his presidency. 

Donald Trump made it safe for white supremacists to openly march on American streets again. He made it ok to declare that "Jews will not replace us!". America is in a darker place because of Donald Trump.

Today marks the end of the Trump presidency but the continuance of a deep and insurgent movement in American society. Today, tens of thousands of National Guard men and women are stationed in the heart of American democracy to protect the US Capitol from ANOTHER insurrectionist attack. America is not a stranger to these sorts of actions. We've seen the Klan march on Washington, we've seen jubilant white men stand underneath the lynched bodies of hung and burnt black men and we've seen the destruction that they can rain on any hint of black success in places like Tulsa, Oklahoma, or Wilmington, North Carolina. 

Even now, one of the last acts of the failed Trump presidency was to publish the 1776 project. A paper intended to "gain a better education among Americans in the principles and history of our nation" The paper goes on to equate "progressives" with fascists and communists while playing down American slavery because, you know, everyone did it. Naturally, this paper is already being accused of plagiarism.

Today may be the last day of the Presidency of Donald Trump but it is only the first wave of Trumpism. Like the pandemic that he willfully ignored, another wave of Trumpism is inevitable. It will be slicker, in better shape, and have better hair. It will speak softly and whisper the sweetest lies in your ear. It will tell you that the "other" is coming or, even worse, "they" are already here. They know that democracy depends on the education of the voter so they will work hard to muddy the waters. Like claiming that an armed insurrection at the United States Capitol is the same as a street riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin. They seek to weaken the already tenuous social bonds that hold our society together and, replace it with authoritarian chaos.

The Republican party shares just as much blame as Trump, if not more. They have cultivated this environment over decades in an authoritarian effort to ensure permanent Republican rule through the executive, legislature, or judiciary no matter the result of any election. They are complicit in the degradation of American democracy and, even now as they retreat to resupply, they accept almost no responsibility in their role in the disaster that has occurred over these past years and decades. They nurtured the Tea Party which removed what few "moderate" Republicans remained in the legislature; replacing them with conspiracy theorists like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a real-life QAnon devotee, who is now a United States Representative. The Republican party spent most of 2020 planning, and attempting, to install Donald Trump as President of the United States while, at the same time, sitting on much-needed pandemic aid. It was only after the deadly insurrectionist attack on Congress that some of them abandoned their efforts to subvert American democracy.   

The Trump Presidency ends with the American Beerhall Putsch. We cannot afford to go easy on those who have attacked the foundations of our democracy both this month and over the past one hundred years. This fight is eternal because the stakes are so high.

In Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, we have a chance but, only a chance, of steering our society in the right direction. They are an inclusive pair of leaders who can clearly see the road ahead of them. Decent and fair, they have a solid plan for governing our nation back to a sense of stability and health.

Four years ago I said, "respect is earned, not given. From the conduct of his campaign, Mr Trump has not earned my respect. He has earned my disdain. His rhetoric on the campaign trail makes me believe he would not treat the office of President with respect. The burden is upon him to convince me otherwise."

Four years later, the wall isn't built, Mexico didn't pay for it, she was never locked up and over 400,000 Americans have died from Covid. He and his party tried to take away healthcare from millions of people, in the middle of a pandemic, while securing permanent tax cuts for the wealthiest in American society. It is only Trump's incompetence that prevented this country from being overrun by fascism but, it does not mean the threat is over.

Today at 12:01 eastern standard time, we get a new leader and a chance for a new beginning. Let's walk with him. Let's help Joe put some of the shine back on the United States of America.