The Past Fourteen Days: Obama to Trump

Ex-President+Barak+Obama+and+President+Donald+Trump%0ACredit%3A+PetaPixel

Ex-President Barak Obama and President Donald Trump Credit: PetaPixel

Isabella Azar, Editor

The past the two weeks have been full of headlines, goodbyes, and hellos.

On Tuesday January 10, in Chicago, Illinois President Barack Obama gave his farewell address to a crowd filled with supporters, family, and friends.

Throughout the beginning of his speech President Obama had a hard time getting the audience to settle down and stop applauding him. In the first lines of his speech, the audience began cheering, “FOUR MORE YEARS!” Laughing as he heard them chant, “I can’t do that,” President Obama replied.

In his speech, President Obama said goodbye to the nation he served for eight years. Many times his voice filled with emotion, especially while thanking his family and his wife,  First Lady Michelle Obama. He praised her for not only being his wife and the mother of his children, but “accepting a role she did not apply for,” and becoming the role model for the nation.

President Obama also celebrated his administration’s accomplishments; such as health care and rebuilding the broken economy. “But for all the real progress that we’ve made, we know it’s not enough,” President Obama said.

Ten days later, the President said his final goodbye as he made the peaceful transition with the new President. On January 20, Barack Obama’s presidency ended and Donald J. Trump became the new ‘Leader of the Free World.’

Donald Trump gave an inauguration speech but unlike most, he took a different path to how he presented it. He directed his words toward his supporters rather than the nation as a whole. Although he did address everyone in his quote, “We are one nation and their pain is our pain, their dreams are our dreams, and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home and one glorious destiny. The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans,” Trump said.

The majority of his speech was directed at his supporters. “Everyone is listening to you now. You came by the tens of millions to become part of a historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before,” Trump said.

The precedent for inaugural speeches is to bring the country together and ensure the security and leadership for all.

Following his inauguration, the Women’s March took place the next day in Washington D. C. and on every continent all over the world. Women protested for equal rights, equal pay, against racism, against xenophobia, against trans-phobia and homophobia among many other things. One cause that was highlighted by media was the number of attendees at the march in D. C. verses those in attendance at the inauguration.

Donald Trump and his administration did not agree with the photo evidence. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” Press Secretary Spicer told reporters. This statement was fact checked and debunked based on photo evidence of much larger crowds at President Obama’s inauguration in 2009. According to CNN, Spicer lied a total of five times in his first meeting with the Press Corps.

Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway went on to show, ‘Meet The Press’ with Chuck Todd to speak on befalf of the press conference and the inauguration. “You’re saying it’s a falsehood. And they’re giving , Sean Spicer, our press secretary ,gave alternative facts,” Conway said. “Alternative facts aren’t facts, they are falsehoods,” Todd responded.

This interview blew up all over the internet. Many people made jokes and memes about ‘alternative facts.’ Merriam-Webster’s Twitter account even had something to say. A “Fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality,” Merriam-Webster wrote.

Press Secretary Spicer responded to the befuddlement of the Press Corps, “I believe that we have to be honest with the American people. I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts. There are certain things that we may,  we may not fully understand when we come out, but our intention is never to lie to you,” he said.