All the conventional items the Trumps failed to do
WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump’s exit from business office mirrored substantially of his tenure: It was unparalleled.
Typically, sitting presidents do symbolic things these types of as web hosting their successors at the White Property, attending the Inauguration of the incoming president, and much more, to signify a peaceful transfer of ability.
Nonetheless, as Trump railed and erroneously insisted until practically the final day that the election was fraudulent and stolen from him, he snubbed several of these traditions.
Here are the range of traditions Trump broke foremost into President Joe Biden’s initially day, and one particular he shockingly saved.
Custom he kept
Leaving a letter for predecessor
Trump eschewed most of the traditional roles a president fills for the inauguration of his successor, apart from one: He left a letter for Biden.
Far more:Biden says Trump wrote him ‘a very generous’ letter ahead of he left White Dwelling
Presidents typically depart a note of congratulations and guidance guiding in the Oval Office, but some had questioned whether Trump would do so provided his hesitancy to even accept Biden’s victory.
Later on Wednesday, Biden confirmed he been given the letter, continuing a cordial custom that goes back again to at minimum the 1980s, telling reporters from the Oval Business that the note was “really generous.”
“The president wrote a incredibly generous letter,” Biden stated. “Because it was private, I will never speak about it until eventually I talk to him. But it was generous.”
In the earlier, presidents have used the notes to underscore the importance of the task and the rewards, hardships and loneliness that occasionally will come with it. Those notes have also usually set aside the partisanship of the election and provided assistance for a prosperous presidency.
Traditions that have been broken
Inviting election victor to White House
Generally, sitting down presidents invite their predecessors to the White Household, but Trump did not invite Biden to the White Residence for a meeting immediately after Biden was declared the winner of November’s presidential election.
Trump did not admit he lost the election until Jan. 7, as he faced mounting criticism for his handling of the violence that erupted a working day before at the Capitol.
The custom is aimed at highlighting the tranquil transfer of electrical power and involve discussions of the hand-off of the White Household.
President Barack Obama met with then President-elect Trump just two times right after the election. President George W. Bush showed Obama the Oval Office less than a week right after Election Day 2008.
In pledging a clean transition, Obama explained to Trump then “we now are going to want to do all the things we can to assist you realize success — because if you realize success, then the place succeeds.”
The meetings typically entail the sitting president providing their successor items of assistance and what the most important difficulties they face will be. Obama famously warned Trump against hiring Michael Flynn as national safety adviser simply because of his ties to Russian officers.
Tea-and-tour tradition among first girls
Outgoing initial girl Melania Trump did not carry out one past initially-woman duty by inviting 1st lady Jill Biden to tea and a tour of the White Household family quarters.
Melania Trump to Jill Biden: No tea-and-tour at White Residence, breaking longstanding tradition
She unsuccessful to do so ahead of she and Trump still left for Florida, earning the snub the first deliberate split in the 100-year-previous very first ladies’ transfer-of-power tradition in many years.
“In fashionable record, there has constantly been an invitation, this goes back to at minimum Bess Truman and Mamie Eisenhower (in 1952),” states Kate Andersen Brower, author of “Initially Gals: The Grace and Electricity of America’s Modern-day 1st Women.”
In an interview Tuesday with previous 1st daughter Jenna Bush Hager on the “Nowadays” display, Biden’s daughter, Ashley Biden, shrugged at the affect.
“No, I really don’t think they’re undertaking the conventional protocol, which is unfortunate,” she mentioned. “But I imagine we are all Alright with it.”
Extra:Ashley Biden on dad Joe Biden getting office environment, Melania Trump breaking tea-and-tour custom
Journey from White House to Capitol, pre-inauguration ceremony and meeting
The departing president usually welcomes the incoming president on the measures of the North Portico, and then they ordinarily experience down
Pennsylvania Avenue alongside one another to the Capitol and inauguration.
Ahead of Trump’s 2017 presidential swearing-in, he and Melania satisfied the Obamas at the White Property for a pre-inauguration coffee ceremony.
Nonetheless, Trump broke these traditions this year, as he did not go to the inauguration.
Instead of the Trumps, the Bidens ended up likely greeted by White Household main usher Timothy Harleth. The Biden administration later on fired Harleth, who was installed by Trump.
Attending the inauguration of predecessor
By skipping Biden’s inauguration, Trump broke with 152 a long time of White House custom.
Trump turned the first outgoing president to refuse to attend the inauguration of his successor due to the fact 1869, when President Andrew Johnson stayed in the White Property as Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in as the 18th president.
In lieu of attending the inauguration, Trump in its place resolved supporters at an early farewell ceremony at Joint Base Andrews that featured a 21-gun salute and a armed forces band playing “Hail to the Chief.”
Trump then flew to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Seashore club in Florida. He was there when the clock struck midday, ending a contentious presidential expression that shut with times of seclusion after the riot at the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6.
Contributing: David Jackson, John Fritze, Michael Collins Sara M Moniuszko, Maria Puente, United states Now
