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The negative tone of our new President’s inaugural address and the massive protests (led by women) throughout the nation on the following day were unprecedented in the recent history of our country.

In his inaugural speech, in which Donald Trump followed the tone of his angry, shouting campaign rallies, he missed the opportunity to try to reunite a deeply-divided country. Largely ignore, were the majority of Americans who voted for someone else. After losing the popular vote to Clinton by nearly 3 million votes, Trump’s approval rating declined to a record low --.Just 40% of Americans hold a favorable impression of Trump, according to a recent poll –significantly below the 46% of Americans who voted for him on election day.

The dark picture of our country Trump portrayed, playing to his base of discontented, white male workers, did not reflect how much of the country feels—with a growing economy, unemployment at its lowest level in seven years, the stock market up, crime down and salaries increasing.

The massive rallies the following day, with more than a million protesters marching through the streets of America, in towns such as Bend, Ore., and, yes Sandpoint, ID., as well as New York, Boston, Washington, New York and Los Angeles highlighted the fear and disapproval of an agenda laid out by the incoming President.

“Not for decades, since 1960 protestors took the streets against the Viet Nam war has a chief executive faced such visible opposition. And never in memory has a new president faced such widespread and intense criticism in the first 24 hours of his term,” writes Cathleen Decker, of the Los Angeles Times.

While it’s unlikely we will see the unseating of our new president, unless he breaks the law, these courageous marchers have made it known that millions of Americans will not be afraid to speak up if any of our basic human rights are threatened by government policies in the future.

JAMES W. RAMSEY

Kootenai