Photographer: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images
Donald Trump will leave the White House for the last time as president on Wednesday, skipping Joe Biden’s inauguration and instead launching a military farewell to himself before leaving for his Florida resort.
After the event at Andrews Joint Base on the outskirts of Washington, Trump will move to Palm Beach, Florida, where he plans to take up residence at his resort in Mar-a-lago. He will become the first president of the United States since the 19th century to skip the inauguration ceremony of his successor.
Trump’s departure marks the end of one of the most divisive and chaotic presidencies in modern United States history. His term reached its lowest point on January 6, when the outgoing president urged a crowd of his supporters to invade the United States Capitol in a failed but deadly attempt to prevent lawmakers from certifying his electoral defeat.
It leaves Washington in a state of military confinement, with some 25,000 National Guard troops stationed across the city to protect itself against further attacks on the government. A high fence surrounds the White House and the Capitol; roads and bridges were closed to prevent access to the National Mall.
National Guard members outside the US Capitol on January 19.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds / Bloomberg
The White House struggled to find guests to attend Trump’s farewell ceremony, which alienated allies and officials with unusual speed and frequency throughout his term. Some key figures in his government and partners on the Capitol – including Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell and House Republican chief Kevin McCarthy – declined the invitation, according to people familiar with the matter.
The White House made some curious choices for its guest list. Several former Trump advisers who became outspoken critics of the president received invitations, including financier Anthony Scaramucci, who was briefly the director of communications for the White House in 2017, but in 2019 was publicly defending Trump’s impeachment.
Former Chief of Staff John Kelly and former National Security Advisor John Bolton and his deputy, Charlie Kupperman, were also invited. None of them will attend.
While some have fallen out with Trump over political issues, others have distanced themselves from him since the violent uprising two weeks ago that left five people dead, including a U.S. Capitol policeman. The episode resulted in the impeachment of Trump, making him the first president to be charged twice. The Senate is expected to begin his trial after he leaves office.
Just two days after the turmoil, Trump announced his decision not to attend Biden’s inauguration. Authorities are concerned about more violence, resulting in an unprecedented security perimeter complete with high fences and military vehicles around the center of the country’s capital.
At the same time, Trump leaves the country suffering from a coronavirus pandemic that killed about 400,000 people in the U.S. and crushed the economy. Although the emergence of vaccines may reduce infection rates, the country is still suffering from the economic cost of pandemic-related outages.