He is the 46th President of the United States. After a tumultuous four years under Donald Trump, Biden will take over with a mandate from the American people to begin to heal the divisions in our country.
It is very difficult to tell which is the more Herculean task: Healing us from COVID-19 or healing us from political division. Both provide their challenges, though at the very least Trump laid the groundwork for the former. The latter is something he will have to start from scratch.
Today, so many people are taking to social media to celebrate the swearing-in of Joe Biden, while also dunking on Trump and his family, allies, and Republicans who dared to support him. Likewise, many people are lamenting the incoming Biden administration and are taking part in as much vile rhetoric against Biden as they are receiving from Democrats. It does not look like anyone is in any mood to heal.
Other than the occasional joke here or there, I think I will be staying out of that today. We have had such a negative four years, and 2020 was especially hard on us. We need a day, maybe a couple of days, to take a deep breath. If Biden wants a chance to heal the nation, we should give him the chance to do so. My fear is that we’ll devolve into petty partisan politics pretty quickly, but one can hope.
The biggest thing we can do right now is hope. Hope for a better future. Hope for a better political climate. And, most of all, hope Joe Biden will pardon Joe Exotic.