Obama on Trump: epoch, period or comma?

Will ye no come back again

I watched the whole of the Presidential inauguration ceremony and like many others, I was struck by the contrast between the magnanimity and graciousness of the Obamas as they slipped away and the insolitous barbed comments and barely concealed arrogance of President Trump. The way they respectively greeted the assembled guests: the great, the good and the bad could not have provided a sharper contrast in style.

The Obamas even had an infectious friendship with George and Laura Bush as well as the Clintons that looked genuine. Barack Obama spoke to the guests as he entered and left the proceedings, meanwhile, Donald Trump patted them on the back whilst turning away. Melanie Trump wore Ralph Lauren, and Michelle Obama wore her emotions. The half-empty streets down Pennsylvanian Avenue were not just because of the rain. They were the hard-core Trump supporters but only a third of the numbers at Obama's inauguration in 2009 according to Washington Metro ticket sales and the New York Times. Although Trump's Press secretary, Sean Spicer, claimed Trump had attracted “the largest audience ever to witness an inauguration” revealing that facts will be fiction under Trump, 

As he bade farewell to his staff before leaving by helicopter, Obama told them: "Our democracy is not the buildings." "It's you, being willing to listen to each other and argue with each other and come together and knock on doors and make phone calls and treat people with respect. And that doesn't end, this is just a little pit stop." “This is not a period,” he said. “This is a comma in the continuing story of building America.” 

I just hope that the Trump presidency is a comma, the prospect of Humpty Trumpty sitting on his wall before his great fall has the sort of resonance that is appealing. I hope that all of GOP's men will not rush to put him together again.