It's #Mr. President now, like it or not

By the time some of you read this we will have a new president. Leading up to today the talking heads and print pundits have made much of the new president's low approval ratings. They claim they are the lowest for any president upon being sworn into office.

I didn't vote for our new president. But let me be clear about this: Donald Trump won the only approval rating required by the U.S. Constitution. He won the election.

I didn't vote for our new president for lots of reasons. At the same time, neither did I want anyone named Clinton to be the next president. What a deal.

But here it is, January 20.

Inauguration Day.

The date that is, or ought to be, the envy of the world.

This is the day when the United States transitions from one president to another in a civil process that takes place amid an appropriate amount of hoopla, ceremony and dancing.

Think about that. Other than the installation of a Missouri governor, what other government transition is marked every four years by dancing?

Yes, I know dancing is interwoven into official celebrations of various cultures around the world. But where else do we see such an elaborate display that amounts to a debutante ball for a commander-in-chief of the most powerful nation anywhere on earth?

Dancing is so much better than tanks lined up outside the Capitol, don't you think?

OK. I know some of you believe the last eight years have reduced America to a sort of second-rate national joke on the world stage. I, on the other hand, choose to think eight years of economic recovery, job growth, health care for 20-million-plus formerly uninsured Americans, diplomacy without the use of U.S. troops and so much more amount to a win-win-win-win for our great country.

Many of you who don't like so many things that make Donald Trump who he is -- his temper, his mouth, his tweets -- need to remember how he got to the White House. All along he pledged that he would be a different kind of president, and that his presidency would be unlike any other.

Yeah, yeah. That's what so many of us said. How many politicians have we heard make bold promises to unravel the threads of government insidership only to see them pile on more layers of political cover in an effort to guarantee just one thing: re-election.

But many of those "yeah, yeah" folks forgot one simple fact. Donald Trump is not a politician. Never was. And, he has made quite clear, never will be.

So, we can't expect someone who isn't a politician, speaks his mind regardless of the consequences and dares anyone to get in his way to look, act, or sound like a Â… well, like a politician.

All of this makes me think that most of America has been self-delusional for too long. Sure, we said we wanted change in Washington, a breakup of a system that looked more like a circus than a representative central government. That's what we said we wanted. As far as I can tell, the only candidate for president in more than 200 years who might actually deliver on that promise is a fellow called Donald Trump. And now he is the president. THE president.

Be careful what you wish for. That's what my mother always said. Maybe you thought the Donald would, like every president before him, sink to the level of all those other Washington politicians as soon as he was sworn in.

Stand back, folks. That is not what you can expect from Donald Trump.

For example, will he, as a demonstration of presidential mien, stop tweeting?

Why should he? He is, with just a few thumb strokes, able to dominate every news cycle while controlling the message. Who, in his right mind, would give up such a stranglehold on public opinion?

It is most likely that Donald Trump will be our president for at least four years. OUR president, even if we didn't vote for him. All of the speculation, up to now, about what's going to happen in those four years is just that: a guess. Now the real stuff starts to unfold.

If you are a reformer in theory but a status-quo pragmatist in reality, stand back. These next four years could be painful.

You might even want to start giving some thought to who should be running for president in 2020.

It's time.

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.