Within hours of pledging allegiance to the U.S. Constitution, the newly sworn-in 47th President of the United States of America broke his oath. Exercising his power to pardon, he paid tribute to the Oath-Keepers, Proud Boys, and others who raided the U.S. Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power January 6, 2021.

Taking the Oath with One Hand

Does Nothing Mean Anything Anymore?

By pardoning seditionists who had pled guilty, and had been sentenced for their crimes, President Donald Trump wiped clean his own crime of sedition. Whether he did not understand the oath he had taken (again), or was lying when he raised his right hand and kept his left hand at his side without touching the Bibles the First Lady was holding, or was disingenuous when said “So help me God,” or was not quite sane, as in criminally insane – “not guilty by reason of insanity” – is an urgent matter for discussion before nothing means anything anymore, and the democratic Constitutional republic crumbles into the madhouse.

Gordon C. Stewart, public theologian, Presbyterian Pastor, host of Views from the Edge, author of Be Still! Departure from Collective Madness (2017 Wipf and Stock), Brooklyn Part, MN, January 23, 2025.