Joe Biden to call for ‘America United’ as Donald Trump skips inauguration
- Joe Biden’s inauguration ceremony curtailed by security, virus threats
- Donald Trump farewell planned for Wednesday morning ahead of Biden oath
The incoming president will call on the US to abandon the divisiveness stoked by Donald Trump, whose four-year term ends with nearly 400,000 Americans dead of Covid-19, a sharp economic downturn and the worst political crisis since Watergate, after the Capitol attack.
Biden’s address will seek to bridge the nation’s deepening political divide by summoning support from people who didn’t vote for him as well as those who did, according to advisers and allies.
“He believes that we have to bring this country together,” incoming White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said on ABC’s This Week on Sunday. “You can expect that this will be a moment where President-elect Biden will really work to try to turn the page on the divisiveness and the hatred of the last four years.”
The inaugural address will be the highest-profile speech of Biden’s nearly half-century in politics. While he will soberly address the difficult challenges ahead, his remarks were expected to be optimistic, stressing that with the right policies and a glimmer of comity in Washington, the country can find its way to a better position than before the pandemic.
