President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are shown here delivering remarks in Wilmington, Del., in November. (Andrew Harnik by /POOL/AFP via Getty Images, via JTA)

I love Inauguration Day. Even though in my lifetime of voting I’ve only been on the “winning side” five times — including this one — the day and ceremony are truly magnificent.

No matter what’s been happening around the country, no matter how deep the ideological rifts, we can all momentarily unify to extol that single moment where an outgoing president welcomes his successor and decorously walks through this time-honored tradition. It reaffirms our belief that we live in a civilized country that respects the will of its people. It is the one day we can believe all of our hopes and dreams for our nation might possibly come to fruition.

It’s a stunning display of what democracy should look like. As Ronald Reagan said in his first inaugural address, “In the eyes of many in the world, this every four-year ceremony we accept as normal is nothing less than a miracle.” In a rare instance, I agree with the late president.

Bill Clinton’s second inauguration is the only one I’ve ever actually attended. Armed with the small American flag that my cousin, a career government employee, provided at a pre-inauguration brunch she hosted, we braved the bitter cold and crowds to stand for hours along Pennsylvania Avenue. The atmosphere was electric, and something happened to me I never expected and will never forget. When the limousines of the president and vice president drove by our little patch of ground, I jumped up and down, yelling at the top of my lungs and waving my flag exuberantly.

I didn’t think I was the flag-waving type, but it was Inauguration Day and I was completely swept up in its grandeur.

This is as it should be.

I’ve watched the changing of the guard at the White House every four years for as long as I can remember. It is always moving, inspirational and beautiful. One of the most significant and powerful inauguration moments is when the newly elected president looks to his predecessor sitting on the dais and publicly thanks him and properly commends his service. It is the honorable thing to do. It is a sublime moment.

That, of course, won’t be happening this year.

The outgoing president is slithering out the back door without participating in any of the rituals or symbolic moments practiced in our democracy. He simply cannot honor what John F. Kennedy elucidated as “the passing of the torch.”

There will be no formal welcome to the White House. There will be no tea for the First Ladies. There will be no show of civility on the part of the departing administration, because the 45th president of the United States is incapable of performing even the smallest of humane gestures.

His absence at the inauguration of Joe Biden will be his undeniable coup de grace, leaving no doubt that he never held the will and needs of the American people or the U.S. Constitution in any regard. Ugliness, despair and chaos is his legacy, so I guess it’s fitting that this is how he leaves public office.  

There is nothing left in this country not stained with this president’s unbridled, destructive ambition. He besieged all protections for the planet, for wildlife, progressive education, scientific advancement, humanitarian policies and social justice.

Even his wife ripped to pieces the historic and iconic Rose Garden designed by Jackie Kennedy. She replaced it with a lifeless, concrete-filled horror evocative of Nazi architecture. It’s as if this couple’s sole agenda was to make America sad, angry and stripped of all color. 

And now he’s messing with the inauguration of his successor. But I simply will not tolerate that. I believe he will fail as miserably in his attempt to undermine the anticipatory joy for this inauguration, for an overwhelming majority of American voters, as he did in his four years as president.

He will lose. Again.

For he whose name I have not written, I pray you live the rest of your life paying for your criminal actions and are treated with the same disdain that you heaped upon the laws, institutions and citizens of this nation.

For incoming President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, I pray that you will be wise, strong and compassionate. I pray that you will be safe. I pray you can begin to heal the horrible wounds inflicted on this country over these past four years.

And to all of you, I wish a glorious, joyful and inspirational Inauguration Day. Though you won’t be able to see me, I’ll be the one jumping up and down in front of the TV in my living room, yelling at the top of my lungs and waving the American flag.

Deborah Walike

A former Baltimore resident, Deborah Walike is a freelance journalist living in upstate New York.

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