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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Friday, January 31, 2025

Howard Lutnick: Even Better Than You Think

Commerce Secretary Nominee 

By Susan Daniels Jan 30, 2025 @ Susan’s Newsletter

Howard Lutnick is a man who has climbed personal mountains. Yesterday (Jan 29th) he answered questions from members of the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation as a prelude to his confirmation. Anyone watching the 3 1/2 hour hearing can not be anything but impressed, not only with his sincerity, intelligence and determination but as a standout among men.

He is the CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, one of the world’s leading financial services firms. He had the same position on 9/11 when the terrorists’ airplane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. His company occupied the top five floors of one of them. He lost 658 employees, and his brother Gary. Lutnick is alive because he took his son Kyle to his first day of school.

He had employees at different locations and they immediately started to rebuild the company. Each donated 25% of their pay to help the families of those who died. To date, the company has paid $180 million to those families. Lutnick said that he had a plan and five years ago he took one of his companies public and repaid each of those employees double what they had donated over the years.

But before that tragedy, he had suffered more personal ones. When he was sixteen his mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He and his siblings lost her the following year. A year later his father was diagnosed with lung cancer. Lutnick said his father didn’t tell him because he was just getting ready to go to college and didn’t want to worry him. Lutnick said a week after he started at Haverford College his father went for his first chemotherapy treatment. The nurse mixed the ingredients wrong and his father died immediately.

At age twenty-three he went to work for Cantor Fitzgerald and at thirty-five he was the president of the company.

When asked why he wants to be Commerce Secretary, he candidly answers that he has made enough money to take care of his family and it is time to do something for the country. Lutnick, a billionaire, has to divest himself of all business dealings within ninety days, if confirmed, to take a job that pays $246,000 a year.

The hearing was cordial until the expected rudeness of Democrats like Ed Markey from Massachusetts, who has been in the D.C. government for forty-nine years. He’s long overdue to leave. He kept asking the same question over and over. Would Lutnick guarantee that signed contracts from Congress would be honored? Lutnick responded that he would read them all carefully and ensure that they were the best deal for the country.

Markey didn’t like that answer. When Lutnick kept giving the same answer, that inflamed the Democrat. Markey then told him that his responsibility was to make sure signed contracts were honored.

That exchange was curious until Chairman Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that the Biden administration had added to the contracts to which Markey was specifically talking about. Cruz said that the Democrats “grafted on to legislation a host of Left-wing social objectives…that they couldn’t get the votes for in the United States Congress.”

I have been following Howard Lutnick since 9/11 for the following reason: After the death of so many employees and his brother, I saw him on the news crying about the horror of it all. I sent to him a letter expressing my sympathies and offering my prayers. To my surprise, I got a response from him.

This is a good man.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61Tg652gkjL._SL1500_.jpg

Susan Daniels is a private investigator and the author of The Rubbish Hauler’s Wife versus Barack Obama: A True Story which is available on Amazon.com.

Politics like we have never seen.  Recommend Susan’s Newsletter to your friends.

 

Events From Around the Nation

By Robin Itzler 

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. Any cartoons appearing will have been added by me.  If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK

Ohio:  A few days before the inauguration, Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine appointed lieutenant governor, Jon Husted, to the Senate seat vacated by Vice President JD Vance. Husted had been expected to run for governor in 2026. Now it appears that Ohio resident Vivek Ramaswamy will announce he will run for governor. This would mean that Ramaswamy would not co-manage the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) with Elon Musk. Susan Daniels has a story to share about her interactions with Husted. How I Got Screwed Over by the Ohio Secretary of State (Who Gov. Mike DeWine Just Named to Replace Vance) by Susan Daniels. = 

California: Don’t let Governor Gavin Newsom’s asinine comments confuse you. California has money—lots of money. However, radical Democrats choose to spend it on woke programs as well as ILLEGAL ALIENS. 

California leaders will scream that they are forced to spend money on illegals, but the truth is that Uncle Sam helps, too. According to The Center Square: The federal government has allocated $159 million in FEMA funding to “provide humanitarian services to noncitizen migrants” in California since 2023, according to federal grants. 

Don’t let Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s asinine comments confuse you. Los Angeles has money—lots of money. The city’s 2024-2025 fiscal year budget is a whopping $12.8 BILLION. Yet, she took $17 MILLION from the fire department’s budget. Just a week before the massive fires and her trip to Ghana, Bass reportedly sought another $49 MILLION reduction from the LA Fire Department. When the fires started roaring through Los Angeles, there were 100 fire trucks sitting in a maintenance yard waiting to be repaired. How fast can you say DEI? 

Amazon Delivers Sanity: In mid-December, Amazon’s Vice President of Inclusive Experiences and Technology announced that the company would be phasing out “outdated programs and materials.” Like all the other national and international companies that are getting rid of insane DEI policies, Amazon will still focus on inclusivity. But here’s a crazy idea … they will also focus on MERIT!

This is a big deal since Amazon is the nation’s second-largest private employer behind Walmart. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee.

Let’s be realistic—many companies rolling back or getting rid of DEI programs would probably be expanding them if Kamala Harris had won the election. But we will take our wins as we can get them.

To share your thoughts with Amazon’s CEO Andy Jessy:  Email (media): amazon-pr@amazon.com, aws-pr@amazon.com, Phone: 206-266-1000, Write: 410 Terry Ave. North, Seattle, WA, 98109

The Right Reverend Wrong:  She is The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, which is part of Washington National Cathedral. After her actions on January 21, perhaps she should be called The Wrong Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde.

The Trump administration should have known Rev. Wrong’s leftist anti-Trump biases and found another church for the inaugural prayer service. Instead of a nonpartisan sermon, Rev. Wrong kvetched about how law-abiding Americans should ignore those who break our laws and ILLEGALLY enter the United States. Rev. Wrong lectured about ILLEGAL ALIENS who pick our crops and clean our office buildings. But like so many mentally deficient progressives, Rev. Wrong ignored the ILLEGAL ALIENS who rape, kill, and commit violent crimes against American citizens.

Rev. Wrong needs to read the Bible. God created man and woman. God didn’t say to Adam and Eve, “If you don’t like your gender, you can pick from dozens of others.” 

To share your thoughts with Rev. Wrong: Email: mebudde@edow.org , Phone: 202-537-6555 Write: Episcopal Church House, Mount St. Alban. Washington, DC 20016

Trump’s Gambit on Federal Workers

Making an offer that many won’t refuse. 

By | Jan 30, 2025 @ Liberty Nation News, Tags: Articles, Opinion, Politics

 When Donald Trump won the 2024 election, the media airwaves were suddenly infused with a raft of stories regarding the federal workers who were distraught over the possibility of working under a Trump administration. Pearls were dutifully clutched, and a woe-is-me cacophony drowned out the sound of cooler heads arguing that such employees should approach their work in a nonpartisan manner. But perhaps taking a prompt from Mario Puzo’s Don Corleone, the president made an offer that could prove difficult to refuse.

A Dear John for Federal Workers

On Jan. 28, an estimated 2 million federal employees received an email from the Office of Personnel Management (OPR), which oversees the civilian workforce. Titled “A Fork in the Road,” the mailer presented a set of options:

“If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program.”

The message asked them to reply with the word “resign” if they wanted to take advantage of retaining all pay and benefits until Sept. 30 and be “exempt” from the in-person work requirement – at which point they would no longer be employed. The federal workers have until Feb. 6 to decide. But what happens if they choose to stick around?

First, it will not be business as usual. Under a Four Pillars rubric, employees will be required to return to the office (for a five-day week), work in a performance culture, meet enhanced standards, and be aware a streamlined approach is incoming. And while a number of workers may believe that they can coast under the radar and just get by, the email attempts to remove that possibility.

No Safe Haven

For federal workers who decide to tough it out, the future is not set in stone. The email continued:

“At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position or agency but should your position be eliminated you will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”

So even if they refuse to take the “resign” option, their roles could still be cut, changed, or redeployed. It seems likely that Trump’s plan here is to root out those who are not fully committed to working under his administration. But this is just the beginning of the president’s efforts to cut the bloated bureaucracy.

In the waning days of Trump’s first term, he implemented Schedule F –  which was immediately overturned by Joe Biden when he became president and is now poised to make a comeback. Liberty Nation News’ senior political analyst Tim Donner explained:

“It will empower massive changes in the bureaucracy, re-classifying thousands of careerists as political appointees. It refers to a section of the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978, exempting some federal employees from civil service protections, specifically those ‘whose position has been determined to be of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making or policy-advocating character.’ Under Trump’s plan, the number of such employees would jump from roughly 4,000 to about 50,000, signaling a sea change in the way Washington does business.”

It is the ultimate Swamp-draining tactic. And the plan goes further.

Get Outta Town!

An additional flank of Trump’s cutting agenda seems likely to be moving federal agencies out of Washington, DC. He has a track record of making this work. In 2020, he authorized moving the headquarters of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) from DC to Grand Junction, CO. LNN’s Jim Fite detailed the results:

“Of the 176 BLM staff told to relocate, only 41 did. The others either retired early, moved into other government positions, or just quit and looked for alternative kinds of work. The number of vacancies went from 121 in July 2019 to 326 in March 2020.”

This three-pronged approach to cutting the size of the federal workforce – the “resign” email, Schedule F, and moving agencies out of DC – will almost certainly have the desired effect. What remains will be a streamlined government filled with only workers willing to do the job required under the rules set by the new boss.

The New York Times called it a “frontal assault on the federal bureaucracy.” And the authors may be correct. However, it is not an assault on people but on a workplace culture that has allowed bureaucracy and bloat to thrive and become the goal rather than the enemy of efficiency. And who knows? Perhaps the American taxpayer will discover that – much like when Elon Musk bought Twitter and cut 90% of the staff – trimming the fat sometimes makes for a better meal.

~

Liberty Nation does not endorse candidates, campaigns, or legislation, and this presentation is no endorsement.

Read More From Mark Angelides Editor-in-Chief

Russia and (Non-Existent) Shock Therapy

January 30, 2025 by Dan Mitchell @ International Liberty

Last year, I mocked Tucker Carlson for trying to make it seem like Russia’s moribund economy was successful. Two years ago, I showed that Russia lagged behind other nations that emerged from the collapse of communism.

 

Three years ago, I shared a chart showing that Russia was an economic failure because of dirigiste economic policy.

Just in case it’s not obvious, I think Russia needs liberalization. More free markets and less statism.

With that in mind, let’s look at some not-too-distant history. Serge Schmemann has a very interesting column in the New York Times about how American officials had differing views of how to help Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Here are some excerpts.


It was March 1994…and the debates within the U.S. Embassy in Moscow were heated. Diplomats in the economic section, backed by the Treasury Department in Washington, argued ardently that radical free-market reforms were the only path for post-Soviet Russia, and that democracy would surely follow. Political advisers believed, equally passionately, that such “shock therapy” would only worsen the devastating dislocation Russians were already suffering with the collapse of the Soviet Union. …E. Wayne Merry, the top political analyst in the embassy and one of the most forceful critics of shock therapy, set out a detailed case against it in a long telegram… Attempts at market reforms had left much of the population destitute… Was America’s advocacy of “shock therapy” responsible for the rise of oligarchs and the ascent of Mr. Putin?

At the risk of over-simplifying, Schmemann’s column basically argues that the United States should not have pushed for radical economic liberalization after the Soviet Union fell apart. Instead, Americans should have let the Russians chart their own path.

That is a perfectly legitimate position. Indeed, many libertarians would agree that the crowd in Washington should not be cajoling or pressuring other nations to do good things or bad things.

But I have one niggling concern with the column, which is that Russia never had shock therapy. There was never a period of radical free-market reforms.

But don’t believe me. Here’s a chart from the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World. As you can see, there was some improvement in economic policy after the collapse of communism, but Russia has never come close to having even French levels of economic liberty. And France is not exactly a pro-market paradise, to put it mildly.

If you want a real example of shock therapy, look at the amazing things Javier Milei is doing to rejuvenate Argentina.

Or, if you prefer examples from the former Soviet Bloc, here’s another chart from the Fraser Institute, in this case showing economic liberty in Russia, Estonia, and Poland.

As you can see, Estonia did a lot of reform, Poland did a decent amount of reform, and Russia has been a bit of a laggard.

Now let’s examine one final graph, in this case from the World Bank.

Is anyone surprised to see that there is a clear relationship showing that the country with the most shock therapy is now the richest while the country that did the least liberalization is the poorest?

Gee, it’s almost as if there is a relationship between economic liberty and national prosperity.

P.S. Click here to learn more about Poland and Estonia.

Sunrise in America

By Lyle J. Rapacki, Ph.D.

 Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors.  E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK

On January 20th, at 12 noon, Sunrise in America appeared. It had been four very long, very disastrous and very costly years we have come through. By God's Grace, America was given another chance to return to the principles which founded this exceptional nation. We have never been a perfect nation, not even from our inception. But we have been an exceptional nation given our founding doctrines and principles by our founders were given to them by God, and those Judeo-Christian principles are written for all to see in our founding doctrines. Our Declaration of Independence, in large measure, was taken from the Books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Bible.

Diabolic forces have been (and still are) at work to remove our founding principles and collapse our nation into a global community where national sovereignty doesn't exist. America has been holding this transition up by remaining loyal to our founding doctrines all the while there have been severe attempts to collapse us by elected and appointed officials who swore and oath to Preserve, Protect and Defend our Constitution and founding principles from ALL enemies, foreign and domestic.

One method used, and for the most part in plain sight, is the mass illegal invasion promoted by global adherents and their acolytes. With NO respect for national sovereignty these traitors to our Constitution, Bill of Rights and associated principles have proceeded to use the various means at their disposal to collapse our national borders and bring in hardened criminals, the mentally and physically ill, and even military from countries who hate America. Illegals from over 160-countries have been allowed to virtually walk into America with no regard, no restrictions. The traitors to our national sovereignty and the Oaths of Office they took, have given money (many reports show up to $5,000 per month) along with new clothes, shoes, backpacks and debit cards plus plane tickets to major cities.

The Marxists that have infiltrated our government at all levels have not stopped wringing their hands and planning ways to undermine President Trump. But millions of Americans have arisen and are cheering President Trump and his new Director of Border Security Tom Homan onward to restore sovereignty, to restore a strong sense of security from the invasion across our borders. Director Homan has said it most clearly, "If you are in this country illegally, your time here is up!"

I have been privileged to meet and confer with Director Homan on two occasions, and to exchange dialogue on a few more occasions. He also graciously took time away from an incredible schedule to appear on my program ARIZONA TODAY twice. I share without hesitation Tom Homan is genuine and he cares deeply for America, our security, and our future. He is not puffed up with ego. I saw this sitting directly across from him with only one other person in the room; no cameras, no microphones, no one else present.

Watch the documentary at the link below and see for yourself. Pray for this man, his task is almost beyond description, with incredible pressure and complexity.

Visit Defend the Border and our Nation.

Thursday, January 30, 2025

The World as I See It!

By Rich Kozlovich 

One thing is clear, no President has ever moved faster, more definitively, or more successfully in his first week than has Trump, and has the entire left on their heels clueless what to do, other than claim everything he's doing is illegal and suing him.  That's been tried before, and that got him the Presidency.  As Kurt Schlichter says, Trump’s Winning Streak Is Totally Discombobulating The Democrats, saying:

Donald Trump has not only gotten inside their OODA Loop – observe, orient, decide, and act – but he’s taking their loop and is running around with it like one of those old-timey kids rolling a hoop with a stick. This is amazing. This is glorious. Summon a surgeon – it’s been a little over a week and you’re supposed to call the doctor after just four hours.......

Carole Hornsby Haynes asks if Trump knows what he's doing by going to war with the gender identity crowd saying:

Trump’s ban has triggered a meltdown from liberals, proclaiming the end of “our democracy” (we have a constitutional republic, not a democracy).  The real reason for their hissy fits is that they know they have lost control and have no idea how to regain it. There is more to the liberal rage.  The ban on gender ideology will likely collapse the vast financial empire spawned by the transgender movement in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), the pharmaceutical industry, and the medical “profession.”

Have you've ever wondered how this became such a big thing?  Well.... she follows the money making it clear these vermin are willing to destroy an untold number of children's lives for profit.   What's worse, they had the support of the Merritt Garland's Department of Justice  which was:

...... fiercely determined to support the surgical and chemical mutilation of children in the name of “gender affirming care.” Woe betide any who got in their way, like Dr. Eithan Haim, an honest man who had the misfortune to do part of his residency at Houston’s Texas Children’s Hospital.  ...............This enraged the DOJ, who immediately charged Haim with violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) by releasing information about children still being abused by the hospital. 

It’s legal to disclose protected information to stop serious medical misconduct, but that was of no concern to the DOJ. It was quickly discovered that the information Haim provided fully redacted the names and other identifying information of the children. There was no way to know who the children or their parents were. He didn’t violate HIPAA. That didn’t matter to the DOJ...............Sane Americans would consider exposing physicians and others doing permanent harm to mentally confused kids a good and necessary thing, but not the Garland DOJ. As Americans have come to expect, there were further irregularities in the DOJ’s lunatic pursuit of Dr. Haim........

I so often hear the left declare we have to embrace some scheme or other because "it's for the children".  Hogwash, mostly what they promote is "to the children", and it's destroying civilization, and that's their goal.  John M. Grondelski's article, Democrats for Infanticide,  

Big Abortion plays word games because it knows that if the unvarnished truth was spoken, Americans would be revulsed by the whole sordid business.  The U.S. Senate took up S.6, the “Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act.” The vote was 52-47, a majority but not the 60 votes needed to end a filibuster. So, the bill failed.

The Born-Alive Survivors Protection Act required that if a baby is born alive during a third-trimester abortion (i.e., in months 6-9 of pregnancy), that baby should be provided medical care and allowed to live. Every Senate Democrat said “no.”

Abortion, especially in states that have “codified” Roe, allow third trimester abortions for any reason. Don’t let the propagandists say they are “rare” and sought only in medical distress. They occur and often occur for the same reasons abortions are procured at other stages of pregnancy: because the child interferes with the mother’s social or economic condition, not her life or the result of criminal assault.

 If a child is born alive it's an American citizen with Constitutionally "guaranteed" protection for life, liberty, pursuit of happiness...unless these vile Democrats and murdering leftist abortionist don't like that idea.  When they murder these live births someone needs to make it a criminal case, and drive it all the way to SCOTUS. 

This is a war, and the backbone of the left has been the media, but that's changing, and conservative publishing is making a comeback, and while this deals with books, that's true over the broad range of published material, especially the media, which is going through a metamorphosis from the old myrmidons of the left to new champions of "truth, justice, and the American way", just like Superman, at least the Superman of the 50's.  

The White House is taking control of the Press Briefing Room making changes that will be detrimental to the Pravda media now having received more than 7000 applications for "new media" seats.  Things are going to change. 

Do you think lawfare is done?  Think again, and it will take a massive effort by Trump's new Department of Justice to bring these miscreants under control, and hopefully some of them to prison.   

 Mike McDaniel asks, Will California succeed in secession?   He goes on to say say California is so delusional they think they can go it alone.  He then goes on to show just how stupid these nitwits are.  Well, I have an idea, how about this?  Let them secede, and take Oregon and Washington with them.  Then declare war on them, conquer them, turn them into territories with no Congressional representation, or the right to vote, and a Territorial Governor appointed by the President enforcing martial law.  Sounds like a winner to me, waddayathink?

Amy Wax and her lawsuit against Penn is back in the news, and Mike McDaniel says Penn's antisemitism is going to cost them.  I've followed and posted pieces about this from the beginning, and it was clear from the beginning Amy Wax was not a person to the trifled with. She won't give up, and she won't compromise, and Penn is in my opinion, like most of the big name universities, filled with academic sewer trout.  Here's my article on this, Amy Wax Is the Rock in the Current!

Much of this antisemitism is the result of so many Muslim students causing problems at these universities, and the money being thrown at the universities by rich Muslim nations.  Trump isn't going to allow this as Dershowitz says, "it's good to see Trump acting on these antisemites abusing their visas....they're not "entitled" to be here", and they have no "right" to be here.  

As for the deportation of illegal aliens destroying our economy, because there'll be no one to pick the berries, I gotta ask....Do they really believe that?  Well, that's an old failed argument, after all, if slaves were freed who would pick the cotton? 

Finally, France is going to send troops to Greenland, which is interesting since the French keep throwing out their governments on a monthly basis, and they've just been kicked out of all their former African colonies, so now they're going to declare war on the United States? And Denmark is going to defend against America with dog sleds.  Laughing rolling on the ground emoji here.


Donald Trump's Inauguration

By Robin Itzler

Editor's Note:  This is one of the commentaries selected from Robin's weekly newsletter Patriot Neighbors. Any cartoons appearing will have been added by me.  If you wish to get the full edition, E-mail her at PatriotNeighbors@yahoo.com to get on her list, it's free. RK

President Donald Trump – from his inaugural address: "I return to the presidency, confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country. Sunlight is pouring over the entire world."

What others said: 

Bill O’Reilly; NewsNation’s On Balance “That was a brutal speech. It’s a unique moment in American history. I can’t find any other inaugural address that humiliated an outgoing president as much as this one did.”

Sean Collins, “Trump’s Inauguration Revealed the Exhaustion of the Democrats;” Spiked “This time around, the mood could not have been more different. Trump’s second inauguration found Americans in a hopeful frame of mind, with many celebrating his return. The protests this week in Washington were desultory; the Resistance has become the Resignation. Indeed, the quiet, defeatist response to Trump reveals the Democrats as an exhausted party – as politically frail and confused as Joe Biden is physically frail and confused. … This exhaustion comes because Biden and the Democrats did not just lose an election in November – their worldview was rejected, too. It was as much a moral as a political defeat.”

Disney’s Star Wars star Mark Hamill (who many would not recognize today); Bluesky “From midnight tonight until next Saturday morning, there’s no TV, no Internet, no Social Media, no nothing for me.”

Mark Penn, commentator, former Democrat pollster to Bill Clinton; X

“The last straw. Last minute pardons for Biden’s political accomplices were the plan all along. The pardons for drug dealers and commutations for murderers were just cover for the main act of these pardons and his son — all done after elections have passed. The only administration to try to jail political opponents was not Trump’s but Biden’s, and it was the voters who rejected it with their votes. There were legitimate questions on whether Fauci lied about his funding of gain of function research, whether Milley broke the chain of command and had unauthorized communications with the Chinese and whether the Jan 6th committee coached witnesses. 

They may have all been right and truthful but there were questions, and they will all go unresolved now. But Biden was elected lying to the public about his son’s business (which was eventually uncovered), sought to win reelection hiding his infirmities, (which was also eventually uncovered), and genuinely abused his office in the closing days of his presidency as his low ratings sink even lower.”

Rachel Vindman, wife of Alexander Vindman; X

Her husband was on Trump’s first administration's national security council and allegedly leaked classified information to a “whistle-blower.” allegations eventually led to Trump's first impeachment. “Whatever happens to my family, know this: No pardons were offered or discussed. I cannot begin to describe the level of betrayal and hurt I feel.”

National Review editors

“Donald Trump’s inaugural address was functionally indistinguishable from one of his rally speeches. It wasn’t as long or discursive but was just as plain-spoken and pointed and made exactly the same promises. The address was another sign that Trump intends to govern the way he ran.”

Hayes Brown; MSNBC live blog

“Look, I get it. It’s hard to be the pro-democracy party if you’re going to pitch a fit and boycott any of the events that get thrown in honor of the person who won. But watching congressional Democrats take part in the traditional luncheon at the Capitol has been a master class in the disconnect between the pre-election rhetoric and the rush to pretend things are normal in Washington.

“Nothing has changed to make Trump less of a threat to democracy today than he was before the ballots were counted. He hasn’t made any moves to shore up his commitments to civil rights or the rule of law. Seeing the smiles on elected Democrats' faces at today’s events and hearing the at best gently chiding tone of their speeches feels out of place on what should be a somber day for them.”

David Axelrod, former Obama senior advisor; CNN

"When you think about how he left Washington four years ago, there is no way you could have imagined the set of circumstances. He left in disgrace, he's come back as kind of a conqueror, that is the feel of this. ...Whatever you think about Donald Trump, you have to acknowledge this was probably the most astonishing political comeback in American history."

Thomas Buckley; Substack

“Out with the old, in with the gold. That was the essence of Donald Trump’s inauguration speech.”

Click here to read Thomas Buckley’s full column.

Click here to watch what happens inside the White House as one administration moves out and another moves in.