We did it!
We made it to the next day. It is no longer Groundhog Day in America! This morning we woke up and Andie MacDowell was next to us, a gentle snow had fallen on the ground outside, and we were no longer trapped in the repeating Hellscape that was the past four years.
(For those who have not seen the movie Groundhog Day, shame on you.) This Bill Murray classic about one man repeating the same day over and over no matter what he does is how so many of us have felt during the Trump administration. No matter what Bill Murray did, no matter how desperate and lost he felt, he would wake up every single day right back where he started, unable to escape to the next day. People have tried to calculate how long Bill Murray was trapped in the same day. Harold Ramis, the legendary actor and director of the movie, once said Bill Murray repeated the same day for ten years. For many of us, Trump’s administration has felt longer.
Much longer.
Last night I went to bed angry and upset. I saw the slew of pardons Trump laid out, more examples of his disregard for the law, for justice, and for basic decency. I tried to write this blog last night and couldn’t focus on what to say because no matter how hard I tried to write something inspiring, I kept pulling to the anger and disgust of all the things that have happened in the past centuries of Trump. So many dead, so many laws broken, so little attempt at humanity.
I stopped writing and went to bed. I was Bill Murray ready to repeat the same day and knowing nothing could be done to stop it.
But then today, it was different. Today I looked outside and it was a new dawn.
Donald Trump’s presidency is ending in a few hours. Yes, the fallout will be felt for a long time, the problems he created, exposed, or enhanced will not disappear with him. But he will no longer be President. I will no longer wake up and check the news to see what insane thing he had done overnight to hurt our county. He will still try, that is to be sure. But he will do so as a private citizen. Or, if there is justice still left in the world, as an inmate in prison. But at this point, private citizen is good enough for me.
In a few hours Donald Trump will no longer be President.
A new morning has arrived.
With it comes the uncertainty that any day brings. But at least it has come. At least we have broken the cycle. In the coming days and months we will mourn those who we have lost and try to repair the damage that has been done. There will be dark days ahead. There will be setbacks. But now that we are no longer stuck we can focus on moving forward with a new sense of understanding and hope.
Hope.
Hope.
