After the US election: Charged encounter: Biden welcomes Trump to the White House

After Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, the Republican will meet the Democratic incumbent Joe Biden next week. The White House announced that Biden would receive his former campaign opponent in the Oval Office on Wednesday. The two political rivals rarely meet. Their meeting is particularly charged given their fierce competition.

A return to conventions

Biden (81) called Trump (78) shortly after the election, congratulated him on his victory and invited him to the White House. Former US President Barack Obama also welcomed Trump to government headquarters after his first election victory in 2016. This is part of the usual way of dealing with a change of power in the USA. Trump, however, moved away from such conventions in 2020.

The Republican ran against Biden in that election and lost. But he has not admitted defeat to this day. After his failure, Trump not only did not invite Biden to the White House, but also stayed away from his inauguration. Biden, on the other hand, announced before the election that he would attend the swearing-in ceremony for the new president on January 20th, regardless of the outcome.

Wednesday’s meeting is one of the rare face-to-face encounters between Biden and Trump. The two last faced each other on stage at the end of June during a television debate during the election campaign. However, the debate was so disastrous for Biden that shortly afterwards he withdrew from the presidential race under pressure from his party and then supported his Vice President Kamala Harris as a candidate.

On September 11, Biden and Trump both attended a ceremony in New York commemorating the devastating terrorist attacks in the United States 23 years earlier. However, there was no major exchange between the two like in the TV debate or at the upcoming meeting in Washington.

A rivalry of a special kind

The election campaign between Biden and Trump had already been particularly heated in 2020 – and the months of the campaign leading up to Biden’s exit were in no way inferior. Biden consistently described Trump as a “threat to democracy”, often denigrated him as a “loser” or “whiner” and, in the memorable TV debate, even as someone with the “morals of a street dog.” Trump, in turn, made fun of his Democratic rival at every election campaign event, always exploited his mistakes mercilessly and portrayed him as a senile, very old man who no longer knew what he was doing and was plunging the country into the abyss. Trump nicknamed him “Sleepy Joe.”

Biden’s exit from the race initially unsettled Trump, who had to completely change his campaign strategy and switch to Harris. The Republican’s radical agenda now aims to reverse much of Biden’s government course in recent years – and thus destroy his political legacy. It is particularly painful for the outgoing president that he has to hand over the office to his hated predecessor.

A lengthy transfer of power

The transition of power in the White House is a complex undertaking. As Trump sets up his new government team in the coming weeks, he and his team will be continually briefed on the day-to-day operations of government headquarters, ministries and agencies to ensure a smooth transition when Trump takes office on January 20th. The meeting between the incumbent and the designated president also serves this purpose.

Trump had already announced his first personnel decision two days after the election: He appointed his previous campaign manager Susie Wiles as chief of staff in the White House. Wiles is the first woman to hold this important position. Trump is expected to announce further personnel decisions soon.

At least he made it known on his Truth Social platform on Saturday who would not be on his government team: former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. “I have enjoyed and appreciated working with them previously and would like to thank them for their service to our country,” he continued.

The race for control of Parliament

After the election, the majority in the House of Representatives remains unclear. The races for several parliamentary seats are still open. The Republicans are confident that they will be able to defend their majority in the House of Representatives. However, Democrats continue to hope for a turnaround. This will determine whether Trump can govern unhindered. The Republicans already have a secure majority in the second chamber of parliament, the Senate.