After The American Carnage

New US President Joe Biden will need to heal and rebuild on so many fronts

- Saswato R Das

The world’s oldest democracy installed a new president on Wednesday as millions watched on television. A few snowflakes fell.

Wearing a dark navy blue coat and a light blue tie, Joe Biden solemnly swore that he would “faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States,” and would, to the best of his ability, “preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the United States.”

With those time honoured words, which every president since George Washington has uttered, he became the 46th president of the United States on the steps of the US Capitol, the very same site where a mob had tried to overturn the results of the presidential election recently, incited by Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.

“This is democracy’s day,” President Biden said. “America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge. Today, we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy.”

Democracy has indeed won – but barely. The violent insurrection by Trump’s supporters two weeks ago, which left five people dead, shook America and the world. It led to Trump’s second impeachment in 13 months; no American president has ever been impeached twice before. As he exited the presidency, a churlish Trump did not attend his successor’s inauguration. He took off for Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Florida, after a small leave-taking ceremony for his aides at Andrews Air Force Base (AFB) in Maryland.