Trump leaves, Biden takes oath

Thirty-four years after first seeking the job, Joseph “Joe” Robinette Biden Jr. was sworn in as the 46th US president Wednesday, drawing a curtain on the most tumultuous administration of modern times and charting a new course to tackle COVID-19 and unite a splintered nation.

Outgoing President Donald Trump entered the White House four years ago as a brash billionaire outsider, but he has been ousted by a polar opposite whose devotion to service, deep knowledge of Washington, and personal scars will unquestionably set a different tone.

Biden, a 78-year-old former vice president and longtime senator, took the oath of office at noon (1 A.M. Manila Times) on the US Capitol's West front, the very spot where pro-Trump rioters clashed with police two weeks ago before storming Congress in a deadly insurrection.

While a transition of power occurred much as it has for more than two centuries, this inauguration was unlike any other.

Official Washington had taken on the dystopian look of an armed camp, protected by some 25,000 National Guard troops tasked with preventing any repeat of this month's attack.

And with the pandemic raging, the general public was essentially barred from attending the swearing-in, leading to unprecedented optics: an empty National Mall on Inauguration Day.

Trump intends to leave Wednesday morning for his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, arriving before President-elect Joe Biden was inaugurated. There, the ex-president will begin his post-presidency life attended at least temporarily by a handful of former White House staffers.

The last president who chose not to attend his successor’s inauguration was Andrew Johnson in 1869, another impeached leader. While Biden has said it’s a “good thing” Trump would not observe his swearing-in.

Trump, who has not appeared in public for a week, broke days of silence with a pre-recorded farewell video address.