Madeleine May Kunin is a former Democratic governor of Vermont. She is the author of “Coming of Age, My Journey to the Eighties.”
The minute that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took the oath of office, it seemed the sun came out.
The bright light that spread its warmth over the U.S. Capitol was both a metaphor and a reality. I was surprised by the eruption of joy. It was spontaneous. It was thrilling. The smile on my face spread into laughter easily. It felt so good.
I knew ahead of time that I would be happy when Trump was finally airlifted out. But I didn’t think I would be THAT happy. I had been airlifted too. A great weight had slipped off my shoulders.
Dealing with Trump for four years had been hard. Just finding the energy to listen to his rants was nerve-wracking. Even to tell myself not to take him seriously, to brush him aside — all of that took work.
With Trump safely ensconced in Florida, I did not have to worry about what he would say or do next. I did not have to shudder when he said “There were good people on both sides” about a fascist anti-Semitic rally. I abhorred his words. Now, at 12:01 p.m., when Biden recited the well-worn words of the presidential oath of office, Trump was left defanged, toothless, powerless.
How quickly, the new president, Joseph R. Biden Jr., filled the space Trump left behind. Suddenly it was filled with hope, with a call for unity, with a call to listen to “our better angels,” as Lincoln had said.
I hadn’t realized how much Trump’s words and deeds had infiltrated my consciousness until he was silenced. It felt like the noise of an old air conditioner had been turned off. I hadn’t fully
appreciated how much noise it made, until there was a beautiful silence.
His rants had filled the air with a grating noise that I tried to shield myself from. That took work. “He doesn’t mean it,” I would say, trying to minimize his meaning, but he would still be there, echoing against the walls that separated us.
I drank in the words of Biden’s inaugural speech like a healing tonic. I cast aside — for the moment — the difficulties that lie ahead. I believed every word he said, because he meant it.
“Before God and all of you I give you my word. I will always level with you. I will defend the Constitution. I will defend our democracy. I will defend America. I will give my all in your service thinking not of power, but of possibilities. Not of personal interest, but of the public good.”
The sun was still shining that afternoon.