National Post (National Edition)
What Trump should do on Jan. 20
`Will he be there?” “Should he be there?” “He,” in this case, is President Donald Trump. “There” is the U.S. Capitol, where at noon on Jan. 20, Joe Biden will take the oath of office to become the 46th president of the United States.
Trump has refused to say whether he will or won't attend, but there is lots of speculation that he will find something else to do on Inauguration Day.
If Trump bugs out, he will join the ranks of only three presidents in history to boycott their successors' inaugurations: John Adams in 1801, John Quincy Adams in 1829 and Andrew Johnson in 1869.
Among the full list of losing presidential candidates, attendance has not been perfect — most recently, Mitt Romney opted out of President Barack Obama's second inauguration in 2013. But consider these examples in the period since Jan. 20, 1969, when Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a Democrat, showed up for Republican Richard Nixon's swearing-in after narrowly losing their 1968 contest:
• President Gerald Ford, a Republican, defeated by Jimmy Carter, a Democrat, in 1976, was seated at the Capitol for Carter's 1977 inaugural address.
• Carter, who lost to Republican Ronald Reagan in a landslide in the 1980 presidential race, was on hand to watch his successor take the oath of office on Jan. 20, 1981.
• President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, made a one-termer by Democratic Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992, was in attendance when Clinton delivered his Inauguration Day speech.
And it's not just been defeated incumbents: Following a 2000 election that was decided by a thin margin in Florida and a landmark Supreme Court decision favouring his opponent, Vice President Al Gore, a Democrat, was there on Capitol Hill for Republican George W. Bush’s inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2001.
So, too, was Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., defeated in his presidential bid in 2008, looking on as Democrat Barack Obama was sworn in as this country's 44th president.
As we all know, Democrat Hillary Clinton, upset by Republican Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race, was close at hand to witness Trump taking the oath of office on Jan. 20, 2017.
Will Trump, rejected by a majority of American voters, swatted down by the judicial system and soundly defeated in the electoral college, follow in these footsteps and get to Biden's inauguration, where he will be greeted with “Hail to the Chief” for the last time?
Losing candidates have made that trek, not because the Constitution requires it of them, but perhaps because they understood that the U.S. Capitol is a great stage for presenting the peaceful transfer of power, a hallmark of the democratic process. Or maybe because they believed that showing up to honour a successful and worthy opponent is a demonstration of character — and an especially ennobling act after a hotly contested election.
That said, should Trump attend what is likely to be a subdued, COVID-19-diminished event?
With President-elect Biden asking people to stay home and watch on television, attendance will be limited and the festivities low-key, without marching bands and a Pennsylvania Avenue parade.
Of course, the question of Trump's attendance should not be left up to this unyielding Democratic city, which can't wait for him to leave town. But D.C.'s viewpoint is still one that deserves to be weighed.
Trump's presence at Biden's inauguration would show the world that power does transfer peacefully in America. But by itself, it wouldn't tell the country that the Donald Trump headed out the door is a magically changed version of the man who captured the White House in 2017 and immediately ruptured time-honoured institutional arrangements of government.
For that, Trump will have to also welcome the Bidens to the White House for tea on Inauguration Day morning and travel with them to the Capitol for the swearing-in — and then miraculously perform a few more inescapable duties.
Trump should publicly concede the election results, congratulate Biden on his victory, declare unambiguously that the 2020 elections were free and fair, acknowledge that his allegations of election fraud have been baseless, apologize for having tied up the courts with frivolous post-election lawsuits, ask forgiveness for trying to overturn the results, call a halt to his supporters' attacks on honest and patriotic public officials doing their jobs and pledge to never again, for as long as he draws breath, foment racial, class and cultural divisions in this country. That's all.
Short of carrying out those eminently decent tasks, Trump should go ahead and do what many of us think he's pondering: remain recalcitrant and stiff the inauguration, devise schemes to steal the show, all the while finding new ways to keep his followers begging for more.