Trump bids farewell to Washington
FORMER PRESIDENT HINTS AT COMEBACK
His presidency over, Donald Trump said farewell to Washington on Wednesday but also hinted about a comeback despite a legacy of chaos, tumult and bitter divisions in the country he led for four years.
“So just a goodbye. We love you,” Trump told supporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland where he walked across a red carpet and boarded Air Force One to head to Florida. “We will be back in some form.”
Trump departed office as the only president ever impeached twice, and with millions more out of work than when he was sworn in and 400,000 dead from the coronavirus. Under his watch, Republicans lost the presidency and both chambers of Congress. He will be forever remembered for inciting an insurrection, two weeks before Democrat Joe Biden moved into the White House, at the Capitol that left five dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and horrified the nation. It was on Trump’s Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2017, that he had painted a dire picture of “American carnage.”
The first president in modern history to boycott his successor’s inauguration, Trump is still stewing about his loss and maintains that the election won by Biden was stolen from him. Republican officials in several critical states, members of his own administration and a wide swath of judges, including those appointed by Trump, have rejected those arguments.
Trump refused to participate in any of the symbolic passing-of-the-torch traditions surrounding the peaceful transition of power, including inviting Joe and Jill Biden to the White House for a get-to-know-you visit.
He did follow at least one tradition: The White House said Trump left behind a note for Biden. A Trump spokesman, Judd Deere, declined to say what Trump wrote or characterize the sentiment in the note, citing privacy for communication between presidents.
Members of Trump’s family gathered for the send-off on the military base along with the president’s loyalists, who chanted “We love you!” “Thank you, Trump” and “U.S.A.” Four Army cannons fired a 21-gun salute.
Speaking without notes, Trump said his presidency was an “incredible four years.” He told the crowd that he and first lady Melania Trump loved them and praised his family for its hard work, saying they could have chosen to have an easier life.
“It’s been something very special. We’ve accomplished a lot,” Trump said, citing the installation of conservative judges, creation of the space force, development of coronavirus vaccines and management of a robust prepandemic economy. “I hope they don’t raise your taxes, but if they do, I told you so,” he said of the Biden administration.
He acknowledged his was not a “regular administration” and told his backers that he would be returning in some form. He said the Trump campaign had worked so hard: “We’ve left it all on the field,” he said.
Without mentioning Biden’s name, Trump wished the new administration great luck and success, which he said would be made easier because he had laid “a foundation.”
“I will always fight for you,” he told the crowd. “I will be watching. I will be listening.”
Before arriving at the airport, Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House that being president had been the honour of his lifetime.
“We love the American people, and again, it has been something very special,” he said over the sound of the Marine One helicopter. “And I just want to say goodbye, but hopefully it’s not a long-term goodbye. We’ll see each other again.”
Trump and first lady Melania Trump landed in Florida more than an hour before Biden was sworn in as the 46th U.S. president. Air Force One flew low along the Florida coast as Biden’s inauguration ceremony flashed across televisions on board. A loud cheer went up from the crowd awaiting his arrival when the plane made a low approach to Palm Beach International Airport as the “Star-Spangled Banner” played over loudspeakers.
Several hundred supporters lined his route to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club. It had a party atmosphere. Trump and American flags waved, with many supporters wearing red, white and blue clothing.
In Florida, he will face an uncertain future.
Aides had urged Trump to spend his final days in office trying to salvage his legacy by highlighting his administration’s achievements — tax cuts, scaled-back federal regulations, normalizing relations in the Middle
East. But Trump largely refused, taking a single trip to the Texas border and releasing a video in which he pledged to his supporters that “the movement we started is only just beginning.”