Trump says goodbye to the White House with bitterness and disdain for democracy, but promises: "We will return somehow"

"We will return in some way," said Donald Trump after leaving the White House for the last time as president, in a farewell speech with a more measured tone than usual but that could not mask his latest disdain for American democracy: in Instead of attending the inauguration of his successor, Joe Biden, as is tradition (there were, for example, the other three former presidents alive), he decided to leave a few hours earlier to his private club in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, where he will live after leaving New York and Washington behind.

“Being your president has been my greatest honor and privilege,” he said to the cheers of his supporters at an event organized at Andrews Air Force Base before leaving, which was completely obscured by the event in Washington.

“

I wish the new Administration good luck and success,

and I believe they will be very successful.

They have the foundations to do something really spectacular, "he added, referring to his legacy. 

His speech had a tone of defeat, compared to the previous weeks in which he continued to insist, without proof, on alleged electoral fraud, a strategy that triggered the assault on the Capitol by a multitude of his supporters in an effort to stop the certification. of the election of Joe Biden.

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Trump refused to participate in the peaceful transition of power

and chose to say goodbye with a kind of rally at the military airfield with large speakers broadcasting the musical themes he used in his campaign, American flags and several hundred followers.

He did not mention Biden in his comments, but instead urged his followers to acknowledge him for future economic and coronavirus victories. 

“You will see incredible things happen.

Remind us when you see these things happen, if possible

, ”Trump said.

Trump's brief intervention differed from the speech that his assistants had distributed before the farewell.

His comments were spontaneous and grim in tone.

Trump touted some aspects of his presidential legacy, including the Space Force and judicial confirmation, and said his team had "left it all in the field."

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He thanked his family, the first lady, Melania Trump, and the vice president, Mike Pence, although the latter was not present after deciding that he would attend the ceremony in Washington.

Pence had to take refuge during the assault on the Capitol to avoid the wrath of Trump supporters, whom he incited against him. 

The outgoing president usually leaves shortly after the incoming president is sworn in, on a special government plane.

But Trump, who fought with lies and seditious claims to overturn the election results, chose to orchestrate a fanfare-filled alternate exit while still commander-in-chief and flew Air Force One on his way home to Mar-a- Lake in Palm Beach, Florida.

“Have a good life.

We'll see you soon, ”Trump said.

His plane departed while

 Frank Sinatra's

My Way was

playing

. 

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The last days of the president seemed unusually calm.

Due to the suspension of his social media accounts, Trump and his frequent messages, which often disrupted government affairs, were absent.

Before saying goodbye, his last public event was a week ago when he went to the border between the United States and Mexico to promote the construction of his border wall.

Pence took on many of the traditional duties reserved for the outgoing president, such as thanking the troops at Fort Drum over the weekend.

And it will continue that ceremonial role during the ceremonial events on Wednesday.

However,

Trump left Biden a note at the White House, a longstanding tradition of outgoing presidents

, White House Deputy Press Secretary Judd Deere confirmed to NBC News, although the content of that note has not been disclosed. .

Meanwhile, the White House staff finalize the transition from the residence and the West Wing, packing and sanitizing everything in keeping with precautions for the COVID-19 pandemic, before the arrival of the Biden administration shortly after noon.

Trump surrendered the White House after a night of signing last-minute pardons and other clemency orders for 143 people, including Stephen Bannon, his former chief strategist;

Elliott Broidy, one of their top fundraisers in 2016;

and a series of politicians convicted of corruption.

The White House did not announce the pardons until after midnight.

No president had refused to attend his successor's inauguration since 1869

, when Andrew Johnson, upset that Ulysses S. Grant would not share a carriage with him to the Capitol, refused at the last minute to get into the separate carriage that he had been prepared and decided not to attend the ceremony.

(Woodrow Wilson traveled to the Capitol for the inauguration of Warren G. Harding in 1921, but did not stay for the ceremony due to health problems.)

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Trump leaves office as the most unpopular president in history.

Since Gallup began the polls under Harry S. Truman, he

is the only president who never won the support of the majority of the public during a single day of his presidency

, and his approval average of 41% over the course of his term is the lowest of all presidents.

However, Trump never accepted his defeat in the 2020 election.

"Can you imagine if I lose?"

He said at a rally in Georgia in October: “All my life, what am I going to do?

I will say that I lost to the worst candidate in the history of politics.

I'm not going to feel good.

You may have to leave the country.

I do not know".

Trump, who lost by seven million votes in the popular count and 306-232 in the Electoral College vote, spent the two months after the election trying to overturn the results on false accusations of widespread fraud.

Last week, the House of Representatives indicted him for inciting an insurrection over the assault on the Capitol, and the Senate is ready to try him in a few days, although he will no longer be in office.

Although it will be too late to remove him from power, a Senate conviction would amount to a historic bipartisan repudiation, and

lawmakers could also disqualify him from returning to office,

thwarting any intention to run for president in 2024.

In a farewell speech he posted on video Tuesday afternoon, Trump did not take responsibility for the Capitol siege or the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 400,000 lives in the United States.

Instead, he boasted of his accomplishments in cutting taxes, eliminating regulations, appointing conservative judges, and revising trade agreements.

"The movement that we started is just beginning," he said.

With information from AP, NBC News and The New York Times