Politico | Joe Biden seeks to bring normalcy back to White House after tumultuous 4 years
- Joe Biden settles in White House as the 46th president of the United States
- Aftershocks of Donald Trump’s presidency likely to continue for months
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Tyler Pager on politico.com on January 20, 2021.
Joe Biden bounced down Pennsylvania Avenue on Wednesday afternoon, revelling in the opportunity to greet the small handful of supporters lining the street and joke with reporters while on-air.
It was a brief moment of normalcy for the consummate retail politician.
But Biden’s first day as president was most remarkable for the abject lack of normalcy in a heavily guarded capital that featured far more armed troops than spectators. With the coronavirus pandemic at its worst point – the number of Americans killed by Covid-19 topped 400,000 on Tuesday – much of the pomp and circumstance of a typical inauguration was curtailed. And many on Biden’s staff continued to work from home rather than join the president in the West Wing.
The bizarre circumstances only further underscored the historic nature of the crises Biden has inherited from his predecessor, Donald Trump, who quietly departed the White House earlier in the day. The effects of the contentious transfer of power continued to reverberate Wednesday, and they are likely to shadow the new Biden administration for months to come.
Even Biden’s first act as president, signing more than a dozen executive orders, was a response to Trump – an effort to roll back some of the former president’s signature policies on immigration and climate change.