I stood on the roof of my building Wednesday morning and saw Trump's helicopter fly to Andrews. Filled with rage and anger at the man, and sadness for all the harm he's done to individuals, institutions, our country and others. His airborne "victory lap" or whatever around the city as if he ever cared about it infuriated me. I got a picture, but it's just a dot above the horizon. Good riddance. It seemed real, but it didn't.
It didn't feel real seeing three former and one soon-to-be presidents as well as one former, one soon-not-to-be, and one soon-to-be vice-presidents gave me a glimpse of how things should be. I will forever remember those oaths, as well as watching Biden enter the White House and Harris entering the EEOB in their new jobs for the first time.
Watching Biden pick up the pen to sign the first three executive orders on Wednesday night, I thought "Finally we have someone who knows what his signature on that document means." THAT'S when it started to feel real.
Yes, we have a long road ahead, and the honeymoon is going to be short. I'm already noticing more cautionary and critical op-eds even on Washington Post, Politico, and other outfits that were merciless to Trump. A lot is expected, and I think people are going to be harsh when progress is not as fast or complete as they had hoped. But we still have the hope, which we didn't have before.
[I usually try to avoid cheap shots, but the city feels totally different without the orange fog hanging over it]