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Joe Biden takes office as 46th US President, Trump departs White House for Florida (UPDATED)

Joseph R. Biden, Jr Takes Oath of Office as the 46th US President, with Wife Jill (r) at the Capitol, in Washington, D.C. Photo: Getty Images

*Today (Wednesday), we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause. The cause of democracy. The people, the will of the people, has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded ─ US President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

The moments are considered a definitive new dawn in the national life of the citizenry in the hitherto globally envied ‘land of freedom’ but currently heavily traumatised and polarised United States (US).

The locked down, heavily guarded Washington, D.C., and 50 state capitals across the country by the 25,000 strong National Guard troops climaxed Joseph R. Biden, Jr.’s comparatively long walk to the Presidency, he is sworn in as the 46th President of the most powerful country on earth at the Capitol, in Washington, D.C., before noon Wednesday, January 20, 2021.

In his address to the Americans and the global community shortly after swearing in, Biden urged a bitterly divided country to unite around defeating the deadliest pandemic in a century, CBS News report said.

He stated: “This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day. Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause. The cause of democracy.

“The people, the will of the people, has been heard, and the will of the people has been heeded.”

According to him, the US has been reminded that “democracy is precious, democracy is fragile, and at this hour, my friends, democracy has prevailed.”

Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office on the new President shortly before noon (EST), when Mr. Biden officially became President of the country.

The President had addressed the nation minutes after Vice President Kamala Harris was first sworn in, making history as the first woman and person of colour to become second in line to the Presidency.

Vice-President (Sen.) Kamala Harris also becomes the first woman and first woman of colour ever as the Vice-President in the annals of the highly divided country.

President Biden addresses Americans and the global world after his swearing in 

ConsumerConnect reports that sequel to the earlier deft maneouvers, reckless sophistry, and wild conspiracy theories apparently conjectured by the immediate past administration of Donald Trump to overturn his election win, the majority of American consumers believe the eventual inauguration of Joe Biden Wednesday would mark the commencement of a fresh chapter with a four-year term of Biden as President, after Trump’s controversial and disgraceful exit from the White House for Florida on ‘Air Force One’ at exactly 8.59a.m (EST).

While awaiting the Senate trial for his second impeachment, his has been considered “an ignominious end to one of the most turbulent presidencies in American history”, leaving pains, loss, divisions, and unprecedented hatred among the populace in his trail.

Donald Trump and Wife, Melania, for last time depart the White House for Florida

The former President is reported to have ‘transformed’ into a political pariah in Washington among all, while his most loyal supporters and ‘lawless extremists’ invaded the US Capitol in the deadly domestic terrorism and insurrection Wednesday, January 6.

The insurrectionists were purportedly inspired by Trump’s refusal to accept defeat and recognise Biden’s victory in the November 3, 2020, presidential election in the country.

Prior to his presidential inauguration, Biden had earlier arrived in Washington Tuesday, even though then President-elect stayed at Blair House across the street, agency report stated.

All of the nation’s other living ex-presidents except Jimmy Carter, who is currently 96, joined Biden at Arlington National Cemetery after the inauguration to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Report indicates the new US President is inheriting from the Trump administration an economy currently enmeshed in multifarious problems, including unemployment estimated to be more than a third higher than when the latter entered office in 2016.

More than 10 million Americans are said to be unemployed, and just as the disruptive pandemic rages on, people continue to lose their jobs in the country.

 

For the Trumps, it is goodbye to the White House in Washington, D.C.

In the week ended January 9, it was gathered that nearly 1 million applications for state unemployment insurance were filed, as well as more than a quarter-million for a Federal programme covering those not traditionally eligible for unemployment benefits, like gig workers.

The COVID-19 crisis has also left a swath of the country struggling to pay bills and put food on the table, report noted.

Incidentally, almost 30 million Americans reported sometimes or often not having enough to eat, according to a Census Bureau survey in mid-December 2020, and more than 17 million had little or no confidence in their ability to pay next month’s rent as the previous stimulus package evaporated.

Likewise, over 401,000 Americans were also reported dead of COVID-19 by the time Trump left the White House Wednesday morning.

However, despite the ostensible damage inflicted by the pandemic, the US equity markets retained their swagger and posted solid returns during the Trump years, according to report.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, for instance, rose 66 percent through last Friday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 135 percent.

Meanwhile, Trump has struggled to find legal representation for the upcoming impeachment trial, with some attorneys who represented him during his first impeachment no longer willing to associate with him.

He won’t have much time to assemble a team, as the Senate could begin its trial soon after Biden takes the oath of office Wednesday.

If convicted, Congress may bar Donald Trump from running for Federal office ever again in the United States.

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