‘Unity, not division’
BIDEN CALLS FOR HEALING; HARRIS MAKES HISTORY
As Trump departs Washington with the nation in crisis, a sigh of relief for many across Connecticut
Jeff Cedrone woke up Wednesday morning with an enormous sense of relief that the most tumultuous political era of his lifetime was finally drawing to a close.
“I really couldn’t comprehend dealing with another four years of this,” said Cedrone, who is 44 and lives in Seymour. “I know that the hatred is still there and it’s not going to go away, but at least there’s a sense of ... possibly healing and ... moving forward.”
Cedrone said he found Donald Trump’s Twitter rants so toxic that he resisted signing up for the platform until the day after the former president was banned.
“I didn’t want to see it,” Cedrone said. “I make the mistake sometimes of like looking at the comment sections on everything from art to music, and there’s still always those comments against the liberals or the right or the left and the constant mentioning of Trump. I know that’s still out there, but not having to see his tweets on a regular basis is a big relief.”
From his penchant for making fun of his rivals and his stormy management style to his outside-the
“We have much to do in this winter of peril, and significant possibilities. Much to repair, much to restore, much to heal, much to build and much to gain. Few people in our nation’s history have ... found a time more challenging or difficult than the time we’re in now.” President Joe Biden
beltway attacks on the political mainstream and his willingness to embrace bizarre conspiracies, Trump’s tenure in office was a four-year, white-knuckled ride. His critics called him a racist and a misogynist whose only goal was to enrich himself and his family. In the waning weeks of his term, his barrage of false allegations of election fraud culminated in the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Several Connecticut residents from across the political spectrum said they are simply worn out.
“While I appreciate the outsider perspective, I think the overall presentation by President Trump left much to be desired,” state Rep. J.P. Sredzinski, a Republican from Monroe. “He could have done a better job communicating and he could have been more inclusive. I look forward to new leadership and being able to come together as a country.”
Trump’s approach to the presidency was calibrated for the social media age, said state Rep. Rosa Rebimbas. “At times his tone worked, and at times it didn’t,” said the Naugatuck Republican. “It was his style to speak directly to the people and at times, that hurt him.”
For those on the left, Trump’s departure brings hope, as well as worry that the divisiveness he unleashed will be hard to undo.
“It certainly feels surreal,” said Caitlin Clarkson Pereira, 35, of Fairfield. “I am hesitant to be too optimistic, even though there’s part of me that wants to scream from the rooftops, like, ‘we did it!’ ”
Holding Pereira back is the sense that the past four years were more damaging to the social and political fabric of the country than she could have imagined.
“We’ve been in defense mode for four years, and that takes its toll,” Pereira said. “It’s not only exhausting, but it certainly takes away your ability to trust in a process that we assumed would always be there. We learned a lot of things about a lot of people, some of whom were strangers on social media, some of whom may have been our closest friends and family members, because this administration and both emboldened people in a way that at least my generation had never seen.”
Helder Mira, 46, of Hartford, said he woke up feeling on Wednesday feeling cautiously optimistic despite still being rattled by the events of the past two weeks, which saw an armed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and Trump’s second impeachment.
“Like manyof us, I’m still pretty shook,” Mira said. “It’s hard to believe that Trump’s out, finally, and that we’re able to deep clean the White House, as everybody has been joking about already. But I feel like that needs to happen before President Biden is in there again and anyone else is conducting real business in there, because there’s just so much not to trust about who just left.”
State Rep. Stephanie Thomas, a Norwalk Democrat, said she’s been in countdown mode since November 2016.
“I hadn’t realized how much I felt terrorized by the current administration, and like many people living through a tragedy, until you receive therapy and get out of it, you don’t know how much it impacted you,” Thomas said.
Thomas said she’s focusing on the future rather than relishing the immediate sense of relief. “I have gotten through it, as has everybody else today, and that now we have a chance to sort of wipe our eyes and shake it off and just live a good, productive, kind life in a world that I think wants to live that way,” she said.
“Soit feels at the same time like a huge relief, but also the restoration of hope, akin to how I felt the night Obama got elected, where many people just came together with this sense of what I identified with that American spirit. Like, we can do anything, we can achieve anything. We are hopeful we will get it done.”
Many said they felt a tangible sense of relief that Trump’s chaotic approach to governing is over.
“It’s a sense of release of a certain type of tension that’s been in the atmosphere for certainly, if not the entire presidency, for the last year and a half or so,” said Rev. Carl McCluster, Senior Pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in Bridgeport.
“There’s been an increasingly heightened tension just because of the instability of some of the president’s decision-making process. You’re saying things that have global impact as if you were playing checkers instead.”
For Muslims in Connecticut, many of whom have felt as though they’ve had a target on their backs for four years, the transition from Trump to Biden brings comfort.
“It is a relief, definitely,” said Anis Shaikh, 62, of Southington, whois on the board of directors of the Islamic Center Of Connecticut.
“Everything comes from the top. If the president of the country gives negative messages, there are negative reactions. I personally did notice the attitude of the people was changed with the message that [Trump] was sending out.”
After 9/11, Shaikh’s traditional dress drew comments from onlookers. “Whenever I traveled throughout the U.S. — driving, stopping at the service center — we were never looked down upon,” he said. “I wore a thawb and my wife wore a hijab when she went to the supermarket. People would ask questions why she’s wearing it, but never in a negative way.”
Over the past four years, Shaikh noticed a shift in attitudes. “People were giving bad looks when we traveled,” he said. “People were looking at us differently. That’s how I noticed it. Nobody would verbalize it, but you can see from the attitude. … I’m hopeful that things will change with this new administration.”
Rep. Sredzinski said he, too, has hopes that Biden will bring the country together. Watching the inauguration, with its ultimately peaceful transfer of power, served to strengthen that belief.
“We need to realize we’re a family,’’ he said, “and just like a family, you have to lock arms and move forward.’’