For the generation that lived through Richard Nixon's resignation due to the Watergate scandal in August 1974, once the US Senate confirmed he would be dismissed if he did not leave office immediately, it appeared that never again would there be so humiliating an exit by a US president. We had to wait over 46 years for another president to leave office with greater dishonour, though this time through elections rather than resignation. Donald Trump’s time has passed, and he is no longer a threat, all his powers have been transferred to Joe Biden, 46th president of the United States of America.
Seldom does a country need a change so badly, that it is more important more who leaves, rather than who arrives. This need, reflected in the November 3rd polls, grew to an indescribable extreme over the last weeks, which exposed Trump’s baseness, brought the country to the brink of civil collision and dragged its image through the mud, after his supporters assaulted the Capitol. Trump’s refusal to partake in the transfer of powers, the first time such an incident takes place, is the last circus act of a megalomaniac character who, if it depends on him, still has not said his last word. His exit from the rear of the White House, as is customary with all presidents, to board the presidential helicopter , was an adequate metaphor of his situation: alone, no farewell speech, and no American media interested in what he had to say, but only in capturing a last picture.
This is Trump’s future: ostracised from society, politics and business; and likely tangled in legal battles over his latest political duties, focused on the grave incidents at the Capitol. Nixon was granted a full pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford, merely hours after leaving office. This will not happen to Trump, and leaves him at the mercy of the judges. He could even end up in prison; the legion of lawyers under contract by the former president’s business empire will have to work arduously to prevent it.
Joe Biden’s arrival is, in a lot of ways, a symbol of hope. Hope for the easing of tensions in a clashing nation, which will take time. Hope that the will of the people, expressed in the November 3rd polling stations, can be brought to fruition. Biden has a lot of work to do, and it goes further than simply putting out the fires lit by his predecessor. First, he must address the recovery of a country suffering a sanitary and economic crisis. He must start by convincing his fellow citizens to adopt a completely different strategy in the fight against Covid-19, which has already left over 400,000 dead, and that aid must be provided to those who need it most. He has already laid out a 1,9-billion-dollar stimulus check plan for those who lost their job to the pandemic and low-income families.
However, in politics, as everybody knows, hope is the first thing to fade when no results are shown.