Joe Biden's inauguration speech: a call for unity in the face of the "dark winter" of Covid-19

"Democracy won".

In saying these words on Wednesday in his inaugural address, Joe Biden turned the page on several such painful events in recent American political life.

The contestation of the election results by his defeated rival Donald Trump, the attack on the Capitol by his supporters, their threats against elected officials, their promises to return ...

"The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been respected," hammered the 46th President of the United States a few minutes after taking the oath.

A 21-minute speech in which he called on the country for "unity" and promised to be the president of all Americans.

“A new day is dawning in America,” he wrote a few hours earlier on Twitter.

READ ALSO>

Immigration, climate, wearing a mask, protectionism ... the first decisions of Joe Biden

In this ceremony all in restraint because of the context, the Democratic president warned against the arrival of "the hardest and the deadliest phase" of the pandemic, and invited the Americans to put aside their differences to face to this "dark winter".

A minute of silence for the 400,000 victims of Covid-19

"We will get by together", assured Joe Biden, before observing a minute of silence in tribute to the 400,000 victims of Covid-19, "mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors and colleagues ".

He further urged Americans to reject manipulation of facts, in a reference to Donald Trump, who for weeks denied the outcome of the presidential election and popularized the phrase "fake news".

“Not all disagreements should lead to all-out war,” he insisted.

And we must reject the culture where the facts themselves are manipulated, and even invented ”.

“There is the truth and there are the lies, the lies spoken for power and for profit.

And each of us has a duty and a responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and particularly as leaders, […] to stand up for the truth and fight lies, ”he added.

Morning essentials newsletter

A tour of the news to start the day

Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters

Joe Biden also promised to "defeat" "white supremacism" and "domestic terrorism", two weeks after the violence on Capitol Hill.

"Today we are seeing the emergence of political extremism, white supremacism and domestic terrorism," he noted.

“We have to face them and we will defeat them,” he said.