United States: Donald Trump refuses to attend Joe Biden's inauguration
The outgoing president snubs the enthronement of his successor: he has made it known that he will not participate in the ceremony on January 20.
Hunt the natural… Donald Trump gave the impression of having changed his tone and posture by calling on Americans for “reconciliation” in the aftermath of the scenes of chaos in the Capitol and by ensuring that he wanted a “smooth” transition with his successor Joe Biden, thereby implicitly admitting defeat for the first time. Alas, just a few hours after this message with soothing accents, the American president released his claws again this Friday, January 8. “To all those who asked, I will not attend the swearing in on January 20,” he tweeted, without providing further explanation.
Certainly, nothing in the texts obliges Donald Trump to participate in this ceremony, but it is an almost immutable ritual in the United States. Only three presidents had refused before him. And the last time was in… 1869, when Andrew Johnson shunned the induction of Ulysses Grant.
The traditional meeting between the outgoing and his successor and their crossings of Washington in the same limousine will therefore not be relevant this year. "It's a good thing," retorted Joe Biden this Friday during a speech to the nation. And to drive the point home: "This is one of the few things on which we agree". The Democratic president-elect also clarified that "Mike Pence (Editor's note: the vice-president) is welcome".
The threat of impeachment
Donald Trump's number two has indeed made it known that he would participate - just like ex-presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or even Jimmy Carter - in this immutable ritual of American democracy. A presence that underlines that Trump's hard-line attitude has ended up hurting even the ranks of his most loyal allies. Many Republican Party heavyweights are distancing themselves from him and many members of his cabinet have resigned since the scenes of riots in Washington. Even his daughter Ivanka is said to have strongly opposed him trying to convince him to calm his supporters on January 6…
As for the Democrats, they are upwind. Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, demanded his resignation, threatening to launch impeachment proceedings against him. This would be the second time in his term that Donald Trump would be targeted by such a procedure, a first in history. And Nancy Pelosi to go even further by declaring Friday to have spoken with the American army to make sure that Donald Trump, whom she described as “unbalanced president”, could not use the nuclear codes.
On the legal front, the horizon is also dark. Lawsuits could be brought against him after the excesses at the Capitol. And Trump risks being overtaken by other business. In New York alone, the billionaire is accused, among other things, of defamation, fraud and sexual assault.
