If the most important day of a person’s life begins with a grievance against the institution of the Fourth Estate, he is likely to spend the rest of his public life undermining it.

“But his next presidency may be different. The spate of resignations in the mainstream American media in recent weeks — including the dissolution and reconstitution of the Editorial Board of The Washington Post in October — are ominous. Partisan new owners of legacy media have chosen to kow-tow to Trump even before he has moved into the White House. Social media will mostly be the new President’s facilitator instead of an outlet for free expression. Meta’s latest decision to get rid of independent, third-party fact-checkers in the US is the latest assault on truth in that country.”

As the United States readies for the inauguration of Donald Trump as its 47th President, I have a sense of déjà vu. Trump’s swearing-in as the 45th President is the only presidential inauguration that I skipped since I was posted to Washington as a foreign correspondent in the final full year of the Bill Clinton presidency 26 years ago.

I skipped the ceremonies on the advice of bipartisan political contacts and reliable security sources. Behind their well-meaning advice was the primary fact that I am a journalist. My badge at the inaugural ceremonies would identify me as one. Moreover, I would be in the media enclosure near the Reflecting Pool, which, on a clear day, will reflect the swearing-in of new presidents on the steps of Capitol Hill. During that poll season which saw Trump emerging victorious, the Republicans treated the media as an enemy. This was not entirely without reason. The bulk of the US media — especially the mass subscription liberal media on the east and west coasts — was unfair to Trump throughout the campaign. He did not have a level playing field in dealings with American journalists.

I am brown in complexion. Black people are an inalienable part of the US social fabric. If they are trifled with by rednecks in a city like Washington, which is predominantly Black, there will be consequences for the perpetrators of white racism. Not so with the brown-skinned minuscule minority, who are also meek compared to African Americans. This also shows very visibly in the ongoing mudslinging against H-1B immigrants.

The underlying anger which culminated in the January 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill was already there when Trump was being sworn in for the first time. Trump began his presidency with a peeve that the US media had deliberately under-reported the crowds at his inauguration. If the most important day of a person’s political life begins with a grievance against the institution of the Fourth Estate, he is likely to spend the rest of his public life undermining that institution. Never mind that the Fourth Estate is one of the pillars of democracy in the US. Trump did not succeed in this destructive mission as President. That was not for want of trying every day for four years from 2017.

But his next presidency may be different. The spate of resignations in the mainstream American media in recent weeks — including the dissolution and reconstitution of the Editorial Board of The Washington Post in October — are ominous. Partisan new owners of legacy media have chosen to kow-tow to Trump even before he has moved into the White House. Social media will mostly be the new President’s facilitator instead of an outlet for free expression. Meta’s latest decision to get rid of independent, third-party fact-checkers in the US is the latest assault on truth in that country.

A saving grace is that institutions in the US are strong. That is why they survived the tenure of the 45th President. Officers of the Metropolitan and Capitol Police paid with their lives to save the high-domed edifice, which is emblematic the world over, of the oldest democracy on earth. On January 20, they will once again be prepared to offer the ultimate sacrifice to protect those they may not personally like and whom they have voted against in Washington, Maryland and Virginia, the tripoints which are similar to the National Capital Territory (NCT) surrounding Delhi. In a tribute to the strength of America’s institutions, law enforcement agencies are allowing demonstrations against the incoming President. A major rally in Washington in support of Trump is also planned on the day before he takes office. It is praiseworthy that in a media briefing last week, US Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said such demonstrations are not being viewed as security threats and upheld the rights of people to protest. There are few other countries where this can happen. The Secret Service is the lead agency in charge of security at the presidential inauguration.

Unlike the run-up to Trump’s first swearing-in and the start of Joe Biden’s presidency soon after the violent attack on the Capitol, fate ordained that there would be a dress rehearsal of safeguards on a presidential scale during all of last week. The 39th US President, Jimmy Carter, died on December 29. Mandatory events associated with his “lying in state,” and tributes before his funeral occasioned one such dress rehearsal. The other, of course, was the archaic certification by the US Congress of electoral college votes that Trump has, indeed, been elected President. It was such certification of Biden’s election four years ago that rioters tried to derail and physically harm then Vice-President Mike Pence and then Speaker of House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. Because of all this, Washington has fortuitously been protection-ready since Christmas, unlike any previous presidential inauguration in recent memory.

There is an eerie similarity between Narendra Modi’s first swearing-in as Prime Minister in 2014 and Trump’s second coming, as it were. Modi invited Pakistan’s then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif — among other guests — and Trump has similarly invited China’s President Xi Jinping. Unlike Sharif, Xi is not going to Washington. The Foreign Ministry in Beijing is keeping everyone guessing on the level of China’s representation. No previous US president-elect has invited foreign leaders to his inauguration, and according to the US State Department, no Head of State has been in Washington during previous January 20 ceremonies. At the time of writing this piece, only Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who is looked upon as Washington’s poodle by some Latin American countries, is expected to attend.

According to books written by people who were in the inner circle of Trump’s White House, the President is highly superstitious. Porn star Stormy Daniels said in a documentary released last year that Trump’s weird hairdo is because he believed he would be powerless if he lost or properly combed his hair. That superstitious trait may explain the vehemence with which Trump criticized Biden for ordering a 30-day state mourning for Carter. In a historic first, flags will fly at half-mast during Trump’s swearing-in as a result. Even for those who are not superstitious, it is not an auspicious way to start a new presidential tenure.
(The author is a senior journalist)