Well, that resolution (to blog more frequently) didn't even last a week. Maybe I should hang my head in shame. Maybe anyone who reads this is breathing a sigh of relief. Who knows?
I thought it might be worth commemorating the fact that we have a new president in the U.S. Now we can refer to "President Biden" rather than "President-Elect Biden". I listened to a bit of his inauguration speech on the day; it sounded pretty good. The sort of stuff you would expect a normal, standard politician to say. I think he's got a pretty big job on his hands (hurr hurr, not *that* kind of job) to reunite the U.S., considering that over 70 million people voted for Trump. He is going to have to show that he is listening to their concerns as well, and working for the benefit of the U.S. as a whole.
There were two interesting things coming out of the transfer of power in the U.S., or at least they are interesting to me. One is the QAnon conspiracy cult; apparently they mostly believed that the Biden inauguration would be the trigger for a mass national rebellion. According to message boards and other sources people were stockpiling water, ensuring their generators were in working order, etc., because they thought this was going to be "the big one". It seems that a lot of people are now disappointed, and I would hope disillusioned as well. Maybe "disillusioned" is the wrong word; maybe I mean disabused of their fantasies. Hopefully the country can come together on a common set of facts which they agree on, and go forward from there. There will always be disagreement about the best way to progress, but if you can at least agree *where you are*, that is a start for dialogue. And maybe we can get to the same situation here in the UK regarding Brexit, at some stage in the future.
The other interesting thing is the Winston Churchill bust rebuttal video. A number of right wing commentators in the UK have been up in arms about the fact that Biden has moved the bust of Churchill out of the Oval Office and replaced it with a bust of Cesar Chavez. So the White House admin have released a video stating that it is "just a bust" and it doesn't affect the "special relationship" between the U.S. and the UK. This is quite a good move, I think. Firstly, it is an acknowledgement that some people have concerns (whether those are legitimate or not). Secondly, it addresses those concerns in a lighthearted (I think) way. Thirdly, it shows that they are listening. Fourthly, it cuts off thoses who are agitating against the new administration. Maybe "agitating" is the wrong word, again. But clearly there are some people who preferred Trump in charge, and they are focusing on this change of bust as a signifier of the regime change. If Biden can move this bust out of the Oval Office, and disrespect the UK like this, what else is he going to change? This video minimises the bust issue. It focuses instead on the past relationships between the leaders of the U.S. and the UK, as well as the security and economic interests shared by the two countries. The bust? It's just a bust.
I think a lot of people are hoping for four years of boring, pragmatic politics coming out of the U.S. If they can include a video like this every once in a while, so much the better.
TTFN.
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