He left furious and defeated one morning in January 2021, he returned triumphant and determined to shake up the very structure of the State, judging by his resounding appointments: Donald Trump was received on Wednesday by Joe Biden, who promised a smooth transition with his sworn enemy.
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The outgoing Democratic president is due to receive his Republican predecessor and successor at 11 a.m. local time (4 p.m. GMT) in the Oval Office, which the 78-year-old tribune will occupy for good, and for the second time, after his swearing in on January 20 .
Joe Biden pledged last week, after Donald Trump’s resounding victory in the presidential election, to ensure a “peaceful and orderly” transfer of power with the man he has repeatedly described as a danger to American democracy.
The outgoing president “believes in standards. He believes in institutions,” his spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday.
The visit promises to be humiliating for the octogenarian Democrat, who knows that a good part of his record could be reduced to nothing by the team that his rival is 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 ministry of “government efficiency”, jointly with Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. The latter has already promised on X that the duo would “not take it easy”.
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.
Revenge
For Donald Trump, the meeting with Joe Biden will have a strong taste of revenge.
He slammed the door of the White House on January 20, 2020, a few hours before Joe Biden entered it, without even attending the inauguration ceremony of his great rival.
The Republican had also not organized this courtesy visit between the outgoing president and the elected president, one break among others by the unpredictable septuagenarian with the customs in force in Washington for decades.
Donald Trump considers that the 2020 election, although validated by a number of courts, was stolen from him.
According to Mike Johnson, Republican tenor in Congress, the president-elect could also visit the Capitol on Wednesday, the building that his supporters stormed on January 6, 2021 to try to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election.
His party is already assured of capturing the majority in the Senate, the upper house.
The Republicans should also retain control of the other component of the American Congress, the House of Representatives.
Taking into account a Supreme Court now firmly anchored to the right, Donald Trump will have free rein.
“Falcon”
The president-elect is already 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 that he wanted to appoint Pete Hegseth, a former army major and current Fox News presenter, as head of the Pentagon.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem would become Minister of Homeland Security, a portfolio that includes customs and border guards.
Donald Trump campaigned on virulent anti-system rhetoric. He promised mass expulsions of irregular migrants and a radical protectionist shift in economic matters.
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