Two Bibles, a plumber and a little blue box
WHAT ’S IN THE BOX?
When the Trumps arrived at the White House mid- morning they greeted the Obamas and presented them with a gift — a box wrapped in the distinctive light blue of highend jeweller Tiffany & Co. The Obamas seemed briefly perplexed about what to do with it, with the president looking in vain for someone to hold the box while the new First Couple and the old took a photo together.
JUST YOUR AVERAGE JOE
Samuel Werzulbacher, who John McCain’s campaign dubbed “Joe the Plumber” during the 2008 election, was in the audience of the inauguration, a few rows back from the band. He had plans to go to the inaugural ball, though in a plaid shirt, not in a tuxedo.
Trump’s win is, among other things, a victory for the Joe- the- plumber wing of the Republican Party. The faux- folksy populists unleashed when McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate mostly sunk as a political force after 2008. But with Trump, they’re back and more influential than ever.
Werzulbacher said he likes what he’s heard from Trump so far. He likes that he isn’t politically correct. “He talks like I do,” he said.
DIGITAL TRANSFER OF POWER
At 12:01 p.m. Friday, the new president, Donald Trump, officially gained control of the @Potus account on Twitter.
NBC News has reported that Trump plans to continue to use his own account — the same one he used to spearhead the communications arm of his campaign, and has continued to use enthusiastically since his election.
As if to illustrate the point, Trump began tweeting again less than an hour after his speech, from his @RealDonaldTrump account.
On the Internet, there was a flurry of interest and fingerwagging pointing to other apparent signs of the seismic shift in power. The White House Web page — which that morning had touted President Obama’s initiatives to slow climate change — now touted a promise from Trump to eliminate “harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan.”
The Trump administration’s website also promised to be more pro- police than the Obama administration. There was also, seemingly, a nod to Trump’s open attitude toward Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Not long after Twitter ramped up into high gear, along came the explanation that the site changeover was all a routine part of the transition — every page that was up on the site under the Obama administration was removed, not just those relating to topics the new president doesn’t care about.
THE BIBLE SAYS
Trump used two Bibles at his inauguration: a Bible his mother gifted him in 1955 when he graduated from Presbyterian Sunday school and one President Abraham Lincoln used at his inauguration.
Inauguration Committee Chairman Tom Barrack explained the selections: “In his first inaugural address, President Lincoln appealed to the ‘ better angels of our nature.’ As he takes the same oath of office 156 years later, President-elect Trump is humbled to place his hand on Bibles that hold special meaning both to his family and to our country.”
The last, and only other president since Lincoln, to use the Lincoln Bible was Obama, in 2009 and 2013.
Trump’s second Bible selection references his Presbyterian upbringing in Jamaica, Queens, in New York City. His mother gave it to him on June 12, 1955, upon his graduation from Sunday Church Primary School at First Presbyterian Church on Children’s Day.
“The Bible is a revised standard version published by Thomas Nelson and Sons in New York in 1953 and is embossed with his name on the lower portion of the front cover,” Barrack said in a statement. “The inside cover is signed by church officials and is inscribed with his name and the details of when it was presented.” Trump has called the Bible his favourite book.
Mike Pence used the Reagan family Bible — used by President Ronald Reagan during his gubernatorial and presidential inaugurations. It was the first time the Reagan Bible has been used to take the oath since.
Pence planned to open the book to the same passage Reagan used, and one the vice president often referenced on the campaign trail: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14)
THE NEW LINGO
Donald Trump used words never before used in any U. S. inaugural address. Here, according to the Washington Post, is a list: bleed, carnage, depletion, disagreements, disrepair, flush, infrastructure, Islamic, lady, landscape, overseas, ripped, rusted, sad, solidarity, sprawl, stealing, stolen, subsidized, tombstones, trapped, trillions, unrealized, unstoppable, urban, wind-swept.
HISTORIC LETTER
So what’s the story behind the letter referenced by New York Sen. Chuck Schumer during the inauguration?
The letter, from Civil War Union officer Sullivan Ballou to his wife Sarah, was written on July 14, 1861, when the North and South were lining up for their first battle. Ballou was mortally wounded a few days later at the Battle of Bull Run.
The letter gained particular renown after Ken Burns featured an abbreviated version in his 1990 PBS Civil War series. Afterwards, it became a popular symbol of the sacrifices made during the Civil War, and is often recited at weddings and funerals.
Said Schumer: “It is one of the greatest letters in American history. It shows the strength and courage of the average American.”