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As for the scripted set of American politics, the first photo shoot in the handover of power between one White House and the next is there.
As in 1980, when President Ronald Reagan peppered Jimmy Carter with seemingly ancillary questions about the business they were dealing with, the incumbent could have asked someone in the Reagan campaign to prolong the Iran hostage crisis. There are moments when I cringe, like when I had a legitimate suspicion that he was working with someone else. It ended as soon as Reagan took over. In 1992, when President George H.W. Current staff members were testy as they spoke to reporters in the hallway between the residences. We don’t hold press conferences on the colonnade,” a Bush aide gushed. And eight years later, the attempt at an amicable transition was infamously ruined when Clinton’s team took the W off the government keyboard and handed it over to the incoming George W. Bush administration — damages. was about $5,000.
But none of it was as blatant a breach of norms as it was four years ago, when President Donald Trump refused to invite his successor, Joe Biden, to the White House. The typical goodwill masks an inevitable first step toward accepting that the incumbent party’s window for power is nearing its end and that it is time to concede the race, but this is a sign that Mr. That’s something I never did. Trump’s tour wasn’t necessarily necessary, as Biden spent eight years as vice president and knows his way around the West Wing well, but given the ongoing COVID-19 situation and to corner Russia. An explanation was needed about the secret efforts of , keeping China at bay and keeping the Korean peninsula relatively stable would have been welcomed. There was a similar silence on Inauguration Day in 2021, when the Trump family fled Washington and Andrew Johnson became the first absentee First Family since Ulysses S. Grant’s swearing-in in 1869. It continued.
Against this backdrop, President Trump will once again return to the White House as a victor on Wednesday, forcing his diametric opposites to sit down and debrief once again in the name of national stability.
Mr. Biden called Mr. Trump shortly after Election Day and invited him to a meeting that was never offered to Mr. Biden. The outgoing president, the only politician to defeat Trump in a presidential race, has made little secret of his disdain for his predecessor and soon-to-be successor, but friends say he is also an institutionalist. He is determined not to have the words “I hate losing” written on his tombstone. .
What we don’t know at this point is, will Kamala Harris be part of that awkward session? She also called President Trump and congratulated him on his victory last Wednesday. Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, a Harris aide, vowed that Harris would “work with President Biden to ensure a peaceful transfer of power, unlike in 2020.”
The last time a sitting vice president lost a promotion was in 2000, when then-vice president Al Gore also participated in the Clinton-Bush 43 talks. By all accounts at the time, it was unpleasant for representatives of both parties to roam the West Wing.
Harris’ aides did not respond to questions about her plans Wednesday.
Indeed, migration is usually a fairly routine task, especially once the voting is over. Generally speaking, conflicts at this level of the game can be avoided. During his final weekend at the presidential retreat at Camp David, President Bush invited Warren Christopher and Vernon Jordan, the Clinton administration’s transition chiefs, to the mountains of Maryland. The younger Bush insisted that his team work with Obama’s incoming staff. And even Obama’s closest aides followed their boss’ orders, albeit with sneers and tears. As it turns out, switching party labels is actually standard.
Only twice in the last century has a political party held the office of the next president without the incumbent dying mid-term, with the winners being Herbert Hoover, who succeeded Calvin Coolidge, and Ronald Reagan. He was succeeded by George H.W. Bush. The rest included Harry Truman (elected after FDR’s death) and Lyndon Baines Johnson (also elected after JFK’s assassination). Basically, for the past 100 years, the White House has tended to change parties when presidents change, with a new face and someone who would have spent his final months as a failed incumbent lashing out at each other. , a most awkward meeting was required.
But for the most part, callers and callers tend to behave camera-friendly, often finding themselves discussing serious issues outside the glare of political maneuvering. President Trump himself has said that his 90-minute meeting with President Obama in 2016 was incredibly enlightening and helped him see the bigger picture beyond campaign rhetoric, especially with North Korea being too small for the incoming administration. It states that it clearly expresses that it is the greatest threat that is being evaluated. (President Obama also told President Trump not to hire Mike Flynn, who President Obama had fired from his top intelligence job, but President Trump didn’t listen.) Just 22 days later, Flynn was hired. (He was appointed National Security Advisor.)
Most presidents who look to history understand the need for this final law, both for responsible governance and for their own personal legacies. Most modern presidents don’t exactly ride the wave to take this final step. When Mr. Truman left office, he set a low standard for job approval: 32%. (Nixon’s resignation was lower at 24%, but his resignation in the wake of Watergate deserves a bold asterisk.) Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H. -W. Bush all received benefits from the federal government. Voters are given a choice. President Reagan was far from in top shape until the end, but although Mr. Clinton survived the injury of being benched by Mr. Gore, he still left office with an approval rating of 66%. George W. Bush fared far from delegates during his tour of Africa during the 2008 Republican convention, and his approval rating was similar to Trumane’s at 34%. Mr. Trump left office in a rage and refused to admit that he had actually lost to Mr. Biden. And Biden’s approval rating now stands at 41%, according to Gallup, which has tracked the president for decades.
All of this is to say that by this point in the presidency, those running the White House are generally eager to begin legacy-building projects in earnest. Most of the time they hate their successors. But photos, even a group photo of the first such meeting in 27 years, as happened during President Obama’s transition, can go a long way in demonstrating unity, normalcy, and even legitimacy.
Biden intends to grit his teeth in Congress on Wednesday, but he knows that alternatives are not an option. Trump took advantage of that easier path with his 2020 loss, but Biden doesn’t see it that way. And now, with a significant amount of responsibility on Trump’s return, Biden has decided that what’s best for his legacy and the country is to use this uncomfortable moment to do something that the man he’s about to greet never offered. I understand it’s about handling things with calmness and grace. To him.
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