*We will be updating this throughout inauguration day.
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President Trump left the White House for the final time Wednesday morning, apparently leaving a note behind reports The New York Times, choosing to leave town quietly aboard a helicopter at 8:18 a.m. for Joint Base Andrews where he was expected to deliver a speech, instead of attending the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
The event, which Trump had hoped would draw a crowd did not, according to The Guardian, as GOP leaders, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy House GOP leader both opted out and shunned the event, choosing to go to Biden’s inauguration instead.
Trump leaves the White House after four tumultuous years which crescendoed in an attack on the Capitol building by right-wing extremists and Trump-supporters, leading many, including long-time cheerleaders of the President to turn on him in his waning month.
All told, on his way out Trump pardoned 143 people, including former chief strategist and former chairman of Breitbart News, Steve Bannon. It should be noted that although 143 pardons seem like a lot, in comparison to most recent presidents, Trump’s 143 pardons is only beat out by George H. W. Bush for the least amount granted.
Trump had positioned earlier this month that he would not attend Biden’s inauguration, a fact that Biden suggested in a speech would be welcomed.
Trump leaves office as the most unpopular president, according to Gallup polls which have been used since Harry s. Truman, with his 41% job approval being four points lower than any other president.
He also leaves in the wake of 400,000 American deaths due to COVID, a virus he played down and suggested would go away back in early 2020.
Last night, 400 lights were lit around the reflecting pool at the Lincoln Memorial, as a way to honor the 400,000 who have passed as a result of the COVID-19 virus.
11:20 – Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota senator, takes the stage.
11:37 – Pop singer Lady Gaga joins the United States Marine Band for the singing of our National Anthem.
11:40 – Fire Captain Andrea M. Hall takes the stage for the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.
11:42 – Vice President Kamala Harris is sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. She is the first woman and woman of color to hold the position.
11:45 – Pop singer Jennifer Lopez sings “This Land Is Your Land” a song penned by seminal folk musician Woody Guthrie, which he wrote as a critique on Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America.”
11:50 – Joe and Jill Biden take the stage for Joe Biden’s swearing-in. Chief Justice John Roberts swears in former Vice President, not 46th President Joe Biden.
11:53 – A masked crowd looks on as Joe Biden takes the stage to make his opening address. “A day of history and hope,” says Biden.
11:57 – “Has taken as many lives in one year as America has lost in all of World War II,” says Biden of COVID-19 which surpassed 400,000 deaths late last night.
12:01 – Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are made Twitter official.
12:02 – “My fellow Americans we have to be different from this. We have to be better than this,” says Biden encouraging unity from both sides of the political fence.
12:07 – “As my mom would say, ‘just stand in their shoes,'” says Biden again speaking on unity.
12:08 – “I can feel our ancestors rejoicing today,” writes Senator Cory Brooker on Twitter, sharing a photo of him hugging Vice President Kamala Harris.
12:14 – Country musician Garth Brooks takes the stage to perform “Amazing Grace.”
12:18 – Poet Amanda Gorman takes the stage to address the crowd. At 22, she is the youngest known poet to speak at an inauguration.
Gorman spoke with the New York Times about what she hopes to accomplish with her poem.
“In my poem, I’m not going to in any way gloss over what we’ve seen over the past few weeks and, dare I say, the past few years,” Gorman said. “But what I really aspire to do in the poem is to be able to use my words to envision a way in which our country can still come together and can still heal. It’s doing that in a way that is not erasing or neglecting the harsh truths I think America needs to reconcile with.”
12:27 – Rev. Silvester Beaman of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Wilmington, Delaware takes the stage. Biden and Beaman have been close since 1993 when Biden held an event in the community. Beaman would later participate in the services of Biden’s son Beau’s funeral in 2015.
12: 34 – The 1776 Commission Page is taken down.
The commission, which immediately drew criticism because some say it was created in response to The New York Times 1619 Project, which sought to expand the knowledge of slavery in the United States, as 1619 was the year that enslaved Africans were brought to the Virginia colonies.
12:37 – President Joe Biden shares first tweet.
12:41 – Martin Luther King Jr.’s daughter Bernice King tweets Amanda Gorman’s speech.
12:45 – Former President Bill Clinton shares a message to Biden and Harris.
12:57 – Former President Donald Trump arrives in Florida to start his life post-presidency.
Richard Foltz
Associate Editor