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Trump and Biden shake hands at White House, promise smooth handover – World

Umito November 14, 2024

WE President-elect Donald Trump thanked President Joe Biden for promising a smooth transfer of power as the victorious Republican made a historical return visit to the White House on Wednesday.

“Politics is tough and, in many cases, the world is not a great place. The world is beautiful today and I appreciate it very much,” Trump said after the two shook hands in the Oval Office.

Trump, 78, added that the transition would be “as smooth as possible.” Biden greeted Trump in front of a roaring fire, offering his congratulations and saying, “Welcome back.”

Biden, 81, invited his arch rival to the White House — despite the fact that Trump, who refused to admit his 2020 election defeat, never extended Biden the same courtesy.

Biden, who withdrew from the elections in July, but watched his successor Kamala Harris lose to Trump last week, he said he “looked forward to a smooth transition.”

“We will do everything we can to make sure you are accommodated and have what you need,” he told Trump.

taken by storm in 2021 to try to reverse his electoral defeat. A seething Trump suggested he might even be open to a third term – which would violate the US Constitution.

“I think I won’t run again unless you say, ‘He’s fine, we need to find something else,'” he said, drawing some laughter.

Trump’s party appears ready to capture both houses of Congress and consolidate its extraordinary comeback.

He was accompanied during the meeting with the Republicans by the richest man in the world, Elon Musk, whom he appointed Tuesday to head a new group aimed at cutting public spending. Trump has launched a nomination spree as he races to name his administration.

Biden’s invitation to the Oval Office restored a presidential transition tradition that Trump tore up when he lost the 2020 election, refusing to sit down with Biden or even attend the inauguration.

Then-President Barack Obama welcomed Trump to the White House when the tycoon won the 2016 election.

But by the time Trump took his final Marine One flight from the White House lawn on January 20, 2021, he had also been repudiated by many in his own party for plotting the assault on the Capitol.

This period of disgrace, however, quickly evaporated as Republicans returned to Trump’s side, recognizing his unique electoral power at the head of his right-wing movement.

Trump enters his second term with almost total control over his party and the Democrats in disarray. He has spent the week since the election at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida assembling his best team, while the world watches how closely he sticks to his promises of isolationism, mass deportations and drastic customs tariffs.

Trump named Musk, the head of Space X, Tesla and Internet meme and a cryptocurrency.

fulfill its administrationselecting a crowd of ultra-loyalists.

Trump nominated Fox News host and Army veteran Pete Hegseth as the new Secretary of Defense. An outspoken opponent of so-called “woke” ideology within the armed forces, Hegseth has little comparable experience managing America’s gigantic military budget and bureaucracy.

Trump named South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem — an ally who wrote about shooting her dog because it didn’t respond to training — to head the Department of Homeland Security.