Trump leaves White House, says ‘it’s been an ideal honor’
Donald Trump pumped his fist and waved as he departed the White House on Marine One Wednesday for the final time as president, forsaking a legacy of chaos and tumult and a nation bitterly divided.
Four years after standing on stage at his personal inauguration and portray a dire image of “American carnage,” Trump departed the workplace twice impeached, with hundreds of thousands extra out of labor and 400,000 lifeless from the coronavirus. Republicans underneath his watch misplaced the presidency and each chambers of Congress. He can be perpetually remembered for the ultimate main act of his presidency: inciting an riot on the Capitol that left 5 lifeless, together with a Capitol Police officer, and horrified the nation.
“It’s been a great honor, the honor of a lifetime. The greatest people in the world, the greatest home in the world,” Trump informed reporters earlier than heading to Marine One, rotors whirring, on South Lawn.
“We love the American people, and again, it has been something very special. And I just want to say goodbye but hopefully it’s not a long term goodbye. We’ll see each other again.”
US President Donald Trump salutes as he boards Marine One with First Lady Melania Trump on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Trump would be the first president in fashionable historical past to boycott his successor’s inauguration as he continues to stew about his loss and privately maintains the election that President-elect Joe Biden pretty gained was stolen from him. Republican officers in a number of vital states, members of his personal administration and a large swath of judges, together with these appointed by Trump, have rejected these arguments.
Still, Trump has refused to take part in any of the symbolic passing-of-the-torch traditions surrounding the peaceable transition of energy, together with inviting the Bidens over for a get-to-know-you go to.
Marine One was headed to Joint Base Andrews the place Air Force One was parked, a dramatic backdrop in opposition to the rising solar. A crimson carpet has been positioned on the tarmac for Trump to stroll as he boards the aircraft. Four U.S. Army cannons had been ready to fireside a 21-gun salute to the president.
Hundreds of supporters greeted Trump at Andrews. By the time Biden is sworn in, Trump will have already got landed at his personal Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Beach, Florida, to face an unsure future.
Aides had urged Trump to spend his ultimate days in workplace attempting to salvage his legacy by highlighting his administration’s achievements — passing tax cuts, scaling again federal rules, normalizing relations within the Middle East. But Trump largely refused, taking a single journey to the Texas border and releasing a video by which he pledged to his supporters that “the movement we started is only just beginning.” In his ultimate hours, Trump issued pardons for greater than 140 individuals, together with his former strategist, rap performers, ex-members of Congress and different allies of him and his household.
Trump will retire to Florida with a small group of former White House aides as he charts a political future that appears very totally different now than simply two weeks in the past.
