The world’s most embarrassing inauguration was led by the Culture Wars President
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A toe-curling speech was set to be followed by a flurry of pointless and tone-deaf executive orders, writes Holly Baxter. Gather round, everyone, for the world’s most embarrassing inauguration ceremony in modern history. Take a seat next to Joe Rogan and Logan Paul. Squeeze in next to Wayne Gretzky and the Village People. Or set yourself down by Eric Trump, who’s just relieved not to be sitting in the back.
![[President-elect Donald Trump, from left, takes the oath of office as son Barron Trump and wife Melania Trump watch during the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/20/17/AP25020637121275.jpg)
And don’t even try talking to Melania. She can’t see or hear anything from under that hat, and she doesn’t want to. She proffered her cheek to her husband for an air-kiss without even bothering to purse her lips and he’s the president of the United States, so that’s where she’s at.
![[How pointless. How disappointing. How embarrassing for us all.]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/20/18/SEI236702826.jpg)
It’s fundamentally embarrassing that one of the president’s main priorities on Day One has been to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” to end government diversity training, and to clarify that there are two biological sexes. As someone who paid $12 for a half pint of milk at Walmart yesterday, I demand more than culture wars. Start referring to the entirety of Mexico as “Miniature Trumpville” for all anyone inside the U.S. or even Mexico cares. The idea that the actual president cares enough about this stuff to write executive orders on his first day in office is downright humiliating for the United States as a country.
Elon Musk — sorry, First Buddy! — should, obviously, be embarrassed. He should be embarrassed to have an office in the White House complex at the same time as being so fundamentally unserious that he named a government initiative DOGE. He should be embarrassed to be underqualified and overcompensated. He should be embarrassed to be an immigrant in America ushering in an era of unprecedented immigration raids and crackdowns. He won’t be, but he should be.
