trump inauguration 

Trump’s inauguration

trump inauguration

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“We are giving up the fight,” he told his supporters and members of his team as he prepared to leave Washington.

By Michael D. Shear

Michael Shear covered the White House for 16 years, the four years of Joseph R. Biden Jr.

For four years as president, and for almost a half-century more in public life, Joseph R. Biden Jr. professed an optimistic, ironclad belief in the strength of America’s democracy.

But in the final moments of his presidency, Biden has struck an unusually pessimistic note. A few minutes before his successor was sworn in, Biden pardoned five members of his family, condemned Donald J. Trump and his allies and declared, “I have no explanation as to why those attacks will end. “

Hours earlier, Mr. Biden had pardoned others targeted by Mr. Trump, including Gen. Mark A. Milley, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and former Representative Liz Cheney.

“These are exceptional circumstances,” he said in a statement, “and I cannot, in good conscience, do nothing. “

This may not have been the coda Biden envisioned when he made his third run for the White House in 2019, telling friends and family that he felt compelled through Trump’s comments about the racial violence that erupted in Charlottesville. , Virginia.

The move validated his decades-long quest for the presidency with a resounding victory in 2020 that ousted Trump from the Oval Office amid the worst pandemic the country has experienced in a hundred years. The political collision between the two men ended Monday as Biden tried to avoid the retaliation he fears Trump might impose on his family.

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