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ACEP Now: Vol 36 – No 02 – February 2017

Dr. Cirillo and his son Connor join the crowd at the inauguration.

As a self-professed political junkie, I will admit that attending a presidential inauguration has been on my bucket list for a long time. As I “approach” middle age at the age of 56 (my definition of middle age) and since inaugurations only happen every four years, I decided that this would be the year to head to Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as the 45th president of the United States. I will admit that, given the unconventional nature of the entire presidential campaign and the controversy that surrounds President Trump, I drove to D.C. with my son Connor and with a mixed emotional bag of excitement and trepidation. The weekend experience in D.C. was enlightening, but honestly, it was more disheartening. When I left D.C. and headed back home to Rhode Island, I kept asking myself, “Who is America?” While in D.C. and in the days since I got back home, I keep feeling that I am not part of the America that I saw at the inauguration or at the Women’s March on Washington the following day. Since I have been involved in politics and advocacy for a while, I was not naive enough to believe that everyone in D.C. was going to sing “Kumbaya” just because it was inauguration weekend. On the other hand, I did not expect to witness Americans disrespecting the office of the president, the United States as a nation, and mostly one other.

Inauguration Morning

We took the Metro and made it to Union Station by 8 a.m. Upon leaving Union Station, there were already protests happening, but given the presence of law enforcement everywhere, we felt very safe and walked up to the Capitol. We were fortunate and had been given seated tickets by U.S. Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI). I will give kudos to Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), who served as chair of the Inauguration Committee, and the entire team of folks who did the planning and logistics for the inauguration. Despite the complexity of the event, this was well choreographed and orchestrated.

So if the day was so easy, then when I did get so disheartened? Well, it wasn’t the official ceremony part of the whole day but, honestly, the people there. Look, I had no illusions that this wasn’t going to be a pro-Republican and pro-Trump crowd. If you made the trip to the inauguration, you were probably on the “righter” side of the aisle in terms of political leaning; I get that. However, the people around us weren’t just happy about their guy winning. They actually seemed to revel more in taunting and jeering the outgoing president, the first lady, and, of course, Hillary Clinton, who could have taken a pass on the whole day and avoided the crowd. There was real vitriol and disdain for people who had served the nation, which went beyond disagreeing with a political point of view. I was really taken aback by this. Maybe I am naive, but an important part of politics for me is separating someone’s issues from that person’s value as a human being. In all my years in politics and advocacy, I have yet to find a politician or policymaker who I agreed with on every issue. That’s why you don’t fall on your sword on any one issue because tomorrow is another day, another issue, and another vote. That’s why you build relationships based on mutual respect and finding common ground rather than focus on what divides us. In all honesty, the crowd really took something away from the importance and significance of this event, which has happened only 58 times in the history of our nation.

The president’s speech was, in a word, “Trumpian.” He was very clear that under his administration things were going to be different and that the old ways of doing things weren’t going to continue. He spoke about the inauguration being about giving power back to the people, which seemed a little unusual for a man who pretty much has never been a man of the people. I would have to imagine that his comments were also awkward for all the current members of Congress and all the ex-presidents who were in attendance (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama). The crowd certainly got excited by President Trump’s speech, but the enthusiasm quieted quickly as people left.

Dr. Cirillo and his son Connor at one of the unofficial inaugural balls.

After the actual swearing in ceremony, we got back to the place we were staying only to find that every—and I mean every—news channel was covering the “anarchists” in the streets of D.C. Even though this was a small group of about 100 people, they got, essentially, all the news coverage of the day. It was disappointing that the media made breaking windows and setting a few trash cans and newspaper machines on fire more important than discussing the importance of living in a democratic and free nation where we have a peaceful transition of power every four or eight years. Friday night was pretty mellow at one of the unofficial inaugural balls.

The Women’s March

Then came Saturday, which was the day of the Women’s March on Washington. Again, from my political junkie perspective, I give kudos to Teresa Shook, Evvie Harmon, Fontaine Pearson, Bob Bland, and others who created the concept on Facebook and worked to make it a worldwide event. Effective advocacy is all about tapping into passion, and the coordinators of the march did so extremely well. It was impressive to see the diversity of issues that were being championed. Reproductive rights, immigration reform, religious discrimination, LGBTQ rights, gender and racial inequalities, workers’ rights, and environmental issues were all part of the official platform. Although not part of the official platform, there was an anti-Trump sentiment that pervaded the event. For me, this is where the event lost something. Signs saying “Not My President” were some of the nicer ones. Madonna’s “F-bomb” rant and talk about blowing up the White House went beyond exercising one’s right of free speech and into a realm of hate and intolerance, which is what the protest was supposed to be rallying against.

Today I am not sure that I belong to either of the Americas that I witnessed in D.C. I am not far right or far left on any issue. I believe that I am part of the true majority in this country, those who live somewhere within two standard deviations on the bell curve of social and economic issues. I know that effective democracy and debate can’t be just about talking—there has to be a listening part, too. This nation was founded by people who disagreed about many things, including whether we should have even become a separate nation. However, through all of our troubled times, we have remained one nation, one America, even after being nearly torn apart by a “civil” war. Our greatest moments in history have been realized when we put aside our differences and faced our enemies and challenges together. I am concerned that we are now becoming a “pendulum nation,” swinging wildly back and forth to political extremes as politicians in both parties attempt to garner the support of the loyalists on either side. The media, which should be a voice of reason and a vehicle for education, has become a morass of pandering sound bites, trying to win the “gotcha” arms race. America is not strengthened by rhetoric and name-calling by anyone on either side of a political issue. America will prosper when we listen to and respect each other as people, as Americans.

Dr. Cirillo is director of health policy and legislative advocacy for US Acute Care Solutions in Canton, Ohio, and chair of the ACEP Federal Government Affairs Committee.