Lion Gothic

There is an American TV show called American Gothic - with the subtitle "An American Horror Story". This feels like the perfect title for Trump's four years in charge. This is the closest I could get to a gothic image (it's a stone urn at the top of a set of steps in the grounds of Preston Hall - a manor house nearby).
At last, in what feels like a miracle, he is gone!  Now his morally bankrupt, hateful, lying and disgusting tenure in office is over. In words that he himself used in The Apprentice, "You're fired!".

I did like that today's front page of the Daily Star (not a newspaper I normally read) did try to inject some humour too:

"Bizarre 4 year nightmare that Trump was Prez
..and that he might pardon Joe Exotic later today..
but it's all over now. There, there! Back to bed. Shhh.
Well, that was a weird dream"

On a much more serious note I did watch Joe Biden's inauguration speech and the contrast between his and Trump's was just off the scale. Trump talked about "American carnage" but Biden's felt like an historic message of hope and unity. Quotes that stood out for me were the following:

"Democracy has prevailed"
"We must reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated"
"We must end this uncivil war"
"We'll lead not merely by the example of our power, but the power of our example"
"We have to be different than this. We have to be better than this" (referring to the events at the Capitol)

We can only wish President Biden and his administration all the very best and hope that this leads to a fairer, gentler, kinder, more just, more caring and respectful nation for all it's citizens.

Trump signed off with a farewell that was as surreal as his time in office. He broke with tradition by refusing to attend his successor's inauguration.
He demanded that his aides prepare an ostentatious ceremony at Joint Base Andrews  accompanied by a sprawling audience but he got neither. He was surrounded by a sparse crowd which only included acolytes, sycophants and his own family whilst YMCA by the Village People and My Way played in the background. Truly bizarre.
GOOD RIDDANCE!!!!!