The Inauguration

Handling automotive problems while living in Manhattan brings headaches (as well as comments from friends about the imprudence of owning a car in Gotham). Martin Luther King Jr. Day offered an opportunity to make a trip to a VW repair shop in the Bronx. A two-hour job invariably takes four hours, which put me in the waiting room at noon on that cold Monday. A middle-aged man whose accent strongly suggested that he was an immigrant from ­Africa was also waiting for his car to be repaired. A few minutes after noon, he fiddled with the TV remote, changing the channel so that we could watch Trump’s inauguration. We missed the swearing in, coming ­into the broadcast just as Trump began his inauguration speech.

My fellow VW owner sat next to me, stretching out his legs, smiling and nodding. Halfway through the speech, I made some anodyne comments. He responded with pleasant generalizations about our political situation. Our attention returned to the speech, which featured the uniquely Trumpian combination of pugilistic attacks and promises of peace and happiness heretofore unknown in human history. The speech came to an end. I observed that Trump is a remarkable man. My companion agreed, adding, “He’s a big man.” He then made a sweeping gesture with his hand, and said, “He makes the others look small.”

Carrie Underwood sang “America the Beautiful,” with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris behind her singing along. A fellow from the repair desk came in. My neighbor’s car was ready. He went out. 

I have no idea whether this fellow voted for Trump. Maybe he pulled the lever for Harris. Perhaps he’s not an American citizen. But that doesn’t matter. His desire to watch one of America’s most important political rituals, his evident interest in our civic life—these revelations warmed my heart. But what most encouraged me was this man’s ability to take an accurate measure of Donald Trump, something few elite journalists and highly paid pundits seem able to do.

I had to wait another hour before my car was ready, during which time I, too, was happy. There’s a great deal of goodwill, intelligence, and devotion in our country. That’s something solid to build upon.