This is why you must force yourself to watch Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony

If the last few weeks have provided us with even the faintest whiff of the horrific stench that’s about to float in after inauguration day, we can’t afford to take a break. We can’t tune out for a split second, or we may lose more than we can afford to bear

The stage is prepared ahead of the presidential inauguration at the US Capitol in Washington DC (Getty)

This is it. After weeks of bitter anger, boundless sorrow and relentless fear, rhyme and reason have finally come to a screeching halt just outside of the Oval Office. On Friday, Donald Trump’s gaudy inauguration performance will blot out the sun and confiscate every last second of broadcast airtime on the planet. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from or how little you care, you won’t be able to escape the rise of The Donald and his gilded, artificially country-infused sideshow of self-gratification.

And that’s quite right. You shouldn’t be allowed to.

Nobody in their right mind wants to watch Trump be handed the keys to the castle. Hollywood has chosen to shun what’s normally considered an extraordinary celebrity occasion; Democrats are boycotting it by the boatload; half your friends are probably plotting social media blackouts, while liberal activists are preparing counter events and demonstrations in increasingly desperate acts of resistance.

You can hardly blame them. Throughout Trump’s unlikely rise to power, he’s shamelessly and condescendingly scoffed at the common man at every turn. He’s mocked the disabled, belittled women, turned his back on minorities, refused to denounce political violence and promised to build every barrier imaginable.

Never has a single man claiming to represent America been so woefully ignorant of its patchwork composition – and never has an incoming president suffered such low approval ratings.

Trump appears as a comic book villain, a wannabe autocrat with selfish delusions of grandeur. He doesn’t care about you, me or America. Inauguration day hasn’t even come yet, and already Trump has redefined nepotism in its most literal sense: he’s handed family members unaccountable roles of power, refused to divest from dodgy dealings and done what he can to silence the free press.

Thus far, America has answered Trump’s increasingly frequent acts of betrayal with complete apathy and disinterest. Most of us just want to tune out and get on with our lives. Many Americans are politically and emotionally exhausted. They need a break.

But if the last few weeks have provided us with even the faintest whiff of the horrific stench that’s about to float in after inauguration day, we can’t afford to take a break. We can’t tune out for a split second, or we may lose more than we can afford to bear.

Live in denial all you want, but democracy is far more fragile than any of us should care to admit. The western world loves to flaunt its constitutions and parliamentary procedures and pretend they’re iron-clad bastions of freedom. But the truth is, it only takes the tiniest of cracks to bring a towering democracy crashing down to its knees. Time and time again, fear, apathy and our misplaced faith in pomp and circumstance have enabled fascism, autocracy and war.

Let’s not bother naming any obvious 20th century examples, because we don’t want to give Trump more credit than he deserves. But the point is this: if left unchecked, the wrong man or woman can twist and distort even the most complex system to achieve their own selfish ends.

If you treasure even one thing about America, it’s your civic duty to scrutinise all those in power and ensure they can’t afford to pass a kidney stone without getting some hassle about it.

Like it or not, Donald Trump is now the man looking to twist and distort that system. You’ve got to be wide awake on inauguration day. If you refuse to get involved now, we may all live to regret it later.