Democratic leader becomes 46th president of the United States
Joe Biden is now officially the 46th president of the United States, since he has formally assumed in a symbolic ceremony in which he has launched a clear call for unity and in which, in addition to celebrating that “democracy has prevailed” after the assault on the Capitol, has advocated resolving any differences peacefully, as opposed to “lies” and violence.
With his hand superimposed on the family Bible, the new president has recited the protocol text before the president of the Supreme Court, John Roberts, which formally culminates a convulsed transition marked by Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his defeat. Biden won more than 81 million votes in the November 3 election, an unprecedented number.
Biden, 78, is the oldest president to reach the White House, which he will enter after more than three decades as a senator and eight years in the shadow of Barack Obama, as his vice president between 2009 and 2017. Obama Yes, he has been present at the ceremony, as have former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, while Vice President Mike Pence has attended on behalf of the outgoing Administration.
The outgoing president, Donald Trump, who Biden has not directly alluded to in his speech, has not attended but with whom he has wanted to mark distances in terms of message. On “democracy day,” as the new president has described it, Biden has declared that the United States is not celebrating its own electoral victory, but a “cause” that transcends and affects all citizens.
“Today we celebrate the triumph not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy. The will of the people has been heard,” he declared, and immediately warned that “democracy is fragile” and that, despite to everything, “it has prevailed”, in an allusion to the assault on the Capitol on January 6 that left five dead and that has shaken US politics.
THE PRESIDENT “OF ALL”
Biden has returned time and again throughout the speech to unity as dogma, understanding that with it “great things can be done.” “I know that the forces that divide us are deep and real, but I also know that they are not new,” said the new president, who has stressed that the history of the United States has also been one of a “constant struggle” in favor of of the freedoms and ideals that he has promised to continue defending.
He aspires to be “president of all Americans”, for which he has promised to “work hard” in order to also help those who did not support him in November. He has told them that it is not new that there are differences – “that is democracy” – but he has made it clear that “discrepancies should not lead to disunity” and it is necessary to “lower the temperature.”
In this sense, he has appealed to the “resilience” of the Constitution, which he has promised to work on during a mandate in which issues such as the fight against climate change or the COVID-19 pandemic have been marked as challenges. In memory of the more than 400,000 people who have lost their lives in the United States victims of the coronavirus, Biden has asked for a moment of silence.
The pandemic has marked the organization of these events, with no public on the esplanade in front of the Capitol and with a reduced number of guests. Security in the area and in Washington in general has also been reinforced to unprecedented levels, where more than 20,000 members of the National Guard have been deployed to prevent serious incidents.
“ATTACK ON DEMOCRACY”
Biden has stressed that the United States is “on trial” during a speech in which he has vowed to rely on facts and truth to govern. “There is truth and there are lies. Lies that are told by power or interest,” he declared, in the same place that on January 6 he was invaded by a mob of Trump supporters, who are facing a second impeachment trial o ‘ impeachment ‘for “inciting insurrection.”
“Here we are only a few days after a mob believed that it could use violence to silence the will of the people, to stop the functioning of democracy, to drive us out of this sacred place. It did not happen and it will not happen. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever, “Biden has sentenced. The assault took place precisely when the congressmen were proceeding to certify their victory in the November elections.
Biden stressed that the United States has finally completed a “peaceful” transition, despite the fact that he believes there is “a long way to go” as of January 20. He believes that the country has shown throughout history that it is capable of overcoming obstacles and has given as an example of this ability to advance in the name of equality that has been a woman, Kamala Harris, who took office minutes before her speech as the new vice president.
