Rick Armstrong

Photographer
Inauguration Day, 2021
News
Inauguration Day, 2021
rick armstrong
Jan 27, 2021
Location: Washington DC
January 20, 2021-  Washington DC

End of an Era  


A petulant child clung desperately to the idea.  “I want it.   I want it!  It’s all mine, mine!”  


Trump had been defeated.  He had to gin up a plate of anger and confusion as a parting gift to the nation.  He wanted to leave DC a white hot mess with everyone furious.


Mission accomplished.  


The streets of Washington DC on inauguration day 2021 were deserted.   Stern face national guard, secret service agents, and scores of local and state police stood behind tall fencing, concrete block, and tanker trucks.


Authoritarian forces brandished automatic weapons to protect deserted streets.  Journalists patiently navigated extraordinary layers of security.  The gloom was palpable.  


Trump’s final stand.  


The flip side of this darkness was anticipation.  There was a creep of optimism and hope.  Confidence in government, something that had gone missing the last four years, seemed possible once again.  That sentiment was there in the capitol, and growing nationwide.  “We the people” took a deep breath, held it in meditation, then allowed ourselves to breathe free, absent trumped up fear.


We can move past the tantrums and tweets with competence and faith.  Reason was restored on this sacred day.

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