Outgoing US President Joe Biden with President-elect Donald Trump during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington on November 13, 2024 (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
He left furious and defeated one morning in January 2021, he returned triumphant and already floating the hypothesis of a third term: Donald Trump was received on Wednesday by Joe Biden, his sworn political enemy, at the White House.
After shaking hands with the outgoing head of state in the Oval Office, where he will take up residence after his swearing in on January 20, the 45th and soon 47th American president declared that the transition between these two men who hate each other would be “the most fluid there is”.
“We will do everything possible to make sure you have everything you need,” said Joe Biden, after offering his “congratulations”.
“Politics is hard, and often it’s not a very pleasant world. But it’s a pleasant world today and I’m grateful,” said Donald Trump.
He himself had broken with all practices of democratic courtesy by not inviting Joe Biden after being defeated in the 2020 presidential election, which he never acknowledged, then by ignoring the inauguration ceremony of the Democrat the January 20, 2021.
Donald Trump, who made an extraordinary comeback by winning the presidential election on November 5, first went to meet Republicans, with whom he raised the possibility of running for the White House at the end of his second term, which is prohibited by the American Constitution.
“I think I won't run again, unless you say to yourself 'he's good, we have to consider something else',” he declared to laughter from the audience.
– “Not in the lace” –
Donald Trump in Washington on November 13, 2024 (POOL / ALLISON ROBBERT)
The visit promises to be humiliating for Joe Biden, who knows that a good part of his record could be reduced to nothing by the team that his rival is in the process of shaping, with appointments each more radical than the last.
Among the latest announced by the president-elect: the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, at the head of a new “Government Effectiveness Commission”, jointly with Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. The latter has already promised on
If the three wealthy businessmen come to an enduring understanding, they could make drastic cuts in the federal budget of the world's leading power and deregulate with all their might.
During the campaign, Elon Musk suggested that the commission could make up to $2 trillion in federal budget cuts, an amount exceeding the combined budgets of Defense, Education and Homeland Security.
A sign of the importance he has acquired with Donald Trump, the Tesla boss will accompany the winner of the presidential election in several stages of this highly scrutinized day.
Melania Trump, the wife of the future president, on the other hand announced that she would be absent, without giving the reason but wishing “great success” to her husband.
For his return to Washington, Donald Trump will have free rein: his party won the majority in the Senate and should retain control of the House of Representatives, according to a count still underway.
The United States Capitol in Washington, November 10, 2024 (AFP / Daniel SLIM)
He can also count on a Supreme Court firmly anchored to the right.
The president-elect is moving forward to appoint his loyalists to very strategic positions.
In addition to Elon Musk, he will entrust diplomacy to the influential senator Marco Rubio, known for being a supporter of a very hard line against China and Iran, and who is to become secretary of state.
At the White House itself, international relations in the new Trump era will be led by another “hawk”, Mike Waltz, in the very strategic position of National Security Advisor.
For the defense, Donald Trump announced to everyone's surprise that he wanted to appoint Pete Hegseth, a former army major and current Fox News presenter, as head of the Pentagon.
