Trump's decision to be absent from the inauguration ceremony, thus breaking a 150-year tradition of the outgoing president's presence at the event, could exacerbate the political rift • But the presence of senior Republican officials will give the event the traditional bipartisan garnet.
Ever since dawn on the American nation, the President's inauguration ceremony has been a formative event, symbolizing above all the essence of its existence as a democratic entity, whose baton is solemnly transferred, saturated with symbols of unity, legitimacy and continuity.
A clear expression of the unifying and partition-breaking nature of the event, which became one of its clearest hallmarks, launched in 1837 and lasted until the early 20th century, was the joint carriage journey of the outgoing president entering the Capitol Building (later converted into a shared car ride).
A complementary expression of the consensual and harmonious essence of the male exchange process in the White House, designed to pour the differences and differences into a unifying pattern and France, centered on the loyalty of the outgoing and incumbent president, usually occurred at the end of the swearing-in ceremony.
This is when the new president has for the last four decades accompanied his predecessor on his way to the helicopter landing pad and the landing to a new world, the former world.
Whereas in the distant past the outgoing president, in the spirit of national unity, used to invite his successor to a solemn lunch at the White House after the swearing-in ceremony, in recent decades a new cooperative tradition has taken root, according to which the president welcomes his successor in a solemn and generous letter. Waiting for him in the Oval Office.
Unsurprising decision
Today, at the inauguration of the 46th President Joe Biden, things will be different.
In light of outgoing President Trump's refusal to come to terms with his loss, and in light of his struggle to turn the tide, it is not surprising that he decided not only not to congratulate Biden on his victory, but also to boycott the inauguration and leave the White House a few hours before his term. .
In this move, Trump joined only three presidents, who in the 19th century chose to be absent from a holiday of the American nation.
These were John Adams in 1801 and his son John Quincy Adams in 1829, as well as Andrew Johnson in 1869, who, out of rivalries with their heirs, chose not to take part in the ceremony.
But while in the time of the presidents of the Adams family the significance and importance of the demonstration of national unity on the day of the transfer of the crown of power was not yet burned into the national consciousness, today - after 150 years, during which this tradition was not broken - this standard deviation has special significance. More the political and ideological rift that exists between the rival camps.
However, alongside this defiant move, the other side of the coin should also be emphasized, whose importance in these days of polarization and fragmentation is extreme.
These are some of Trump's staunchest and most loyal supporters, led by Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham and two Texas senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornin, who, unlike their president, have decided to attend the inauguration ceremony. He's so desperate these days.
The fact that Cruz was among the senators who challenged the Electoral Commission's decision, and yet eventually reconciled with the electorate and preferred to tread a state rather than a class path, is proof that there is still no hope that the American political system will make a U-turn and return to an era of business, pragmatic That will allow for broad national consensus on a range of pressing issues.
Despite the signs of statehood woven into the inauguration ceremony tonight, Israel time, a cloud of melancholy rests on the great day of the incoming president.
Not only has the corona plague minimized the number of attendees at the coronation ceremony and the scale of the events that accompany it, but the current crisis has made Washington a besieged city, rather than a capital that wore its best in its big day.
It is to be hoped that these spectacles of military and police forces surrounding the city, light years away from the colorful and cheerful tradition of celebrations and parties accompanying the White House vigil, will soon sink to the margins of the arena, and not accompany the new president like a gloomy shadow at the beginning of his tenure.