Tag: inauguration

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Chris Wallace On Fox News: ‘The Best Inaugural Address I Ever Heard’

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace calls Biden speech the best inaugural address
Fox News anchor Chris Wallace
Following President Biden’s inaugural speech, I’m sure it shook the Fox News audience to hear anchor Chris Wallace declare, “I thought it was a great speech. I have been listening to these inaugural addresses since 1961. John F. Kennedy’s ‘ask not’. I thought this was the best inaugural address I ever heard.” I don’t know about “the best,” as Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are all excellent orators. But I thought Biden’s speech was perfect in tone and balance. Many on Twitter think his comments today could foreshadow Wallace’s departure from Fox News. Wallace also noted a passage in Biden’s speech that seemed to address the power of truth and lies in the media. “He said that there is truth and there are lies, lies that are told for power and lies that are told for profit. And I think it was a call to all of us, whether it’s us on the air, on cable or broadcast, whether it’s us in social media, on our Twitter accounts, understanding that we have to deal from facts, from the truth, to hear each other out, as he said.”

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A New Day Dawns – Highlights From The 2021 Inauguration

Joe Biden is now the 46th President of the United States

At the 2021 Inauguration, Joe Biden was sworn into office as the 46th President of the United States And a new day has dawned. At noon Eastern Standard time, the United States celebrated the 2021 Inauguration as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were sworn into office. Our four year national nightmare is over, the 2020 election is behind us, and the great work begins. Vice President Kamala Harris I’m sure many of you were watching the full ceremony today, but just in case, here are some highlights from the 2021 Inauguration: In addition to Biden and Harris’s swearing in moments, Lady Gaga sang the national anthem; a luminous Amanda Gorman, the nation’s first youth poet laurete called for Americans to “leave behind a country better than the one we were left;” and I smiled to see that Capitol Police hero Eugene Goodman, who led rioters away from the Senate during the Capitol building invasion, has been given a promotion and was given the honor of escorting Kamala Harris as she made her entrance.

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Mike Pence Calls Kamala Harris (Finally)

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence

Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence (images via campaigns)
Months after the election was called, Vice President Mike Pence (finally) called Vice President-elect Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her history-making election. From the New York Times:

Vice President Mike Pence telephoned Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Thursday to congratulate her and offer his belated assistance — filling a leadership role all but abdicated by President Trump, who is planning to fly out of the capital shortly before Joseph R. Biden Jr. is sworn in next week.

The Pence-Harris conversation, relayed by two officials briefed on the call, was described as gracious and pleasant. The discussion is the first time Mr. Pence and Ms. Harris have spoken since they debated each other last fall.

It also represents the only one-on-one interaction between the dueling 2020 presidential tickets: Mr. Trump has refused to call President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. and has not even fully conceded defeat.

The Times goes on to report that Pence may invite Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, to the vice-presidential residence prior to the inauguration ceremony next week. But the visit may not work out due to heightened security measures put in place since the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building last week. Donald Trump has previously shared he will not attend the inauguration becoming the first president in 152 years to ghost on his successor. Neither will he meet with the Bidens at the White House before the inauguration as is presidential tradition. Trump will depart the White House in the hours before Biden’s swearing-in ceremony. According to the Times, he “hopes to depart to the blare of a military band, with a red carpet and military honors, those briefed on the planning said.”

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Donald Trump Will Not Attend Biden Inauguration

Trump walks past reporters with no comment

Trump walks past reporters with no comment
Donald Trump (image via public domain/White House)
Via Twitter this morning we get the news that Donald Trump will NOT attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Trump is the first president to ghost his successor in 152 years. The announcement represents just one more Trumpian break with the traditions of U.S. democracy which has always embraced a peaceful transfer of power. Donald Trump announces he won't attend the inauguration of Joe Biden The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise in that he took 61 days to barely concede he lost the election. Vice President Mike Pence has indicated he will attend the swearing-in ceremony but an administration official told the New York Times he hasn’t received an official invitation yet. The Times also notes that only 3 presidents have declined to attend their successor’s inauguration: “John Adams in 1801, his son John Quincy Adams in 1829 and Andrew Johnson, a Democrat who sat out the 1869 inauguration after he was replaced in favor of fellow Republican Ulysses S. Grant.”

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News Round-Up: January 17, 2017

Some news items you may have missed:

• The weather forecast for Friday in Washington DC? 90% chance of rain. See forecast above. How terrible… 😉

• Some of Broadway’s biggest stars – including Tony Award winners Betty Buckley, Chita Rivera, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Kelli O’Hara, Jessie Mueller and Billy Porter – will be spending Inauguration Day at a concert in New York City that raises money for human rights organizations.

• Over 50 Democratic members of Congress (53 at last count) will not be attending the Trump inauguration.

• Speaking of the inauguration, scalpers are having a tough time unloading tickets they bought for the event this Friday.

• Team Trump is having such a tough time getting supporters to the inaugural festivities they are using targeted Facebook ads to up free ticket attendance.

• One more inauguration item: don’t miss Randy Rainbow’s hysterical interview with Tony Award winner Jennifer Holliday regarding her recent kerfuffle when she confirmed then cancelled her appearance the “peaceful transfer of power.”

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Hillary Clinton Will Attend Donald Trump Inauguration

Now, this is a lesson in class.

USA Today is reporting that just two months after a surprise loss in the presidential election, Hillary Clinton will attend the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

An aide to the Democratic nominee confirmed Tuesday that she and former president Bill Clinton will attend this month’s ceremony, speaking on condition of anonymity until plans are announced publicly.

It will be the first joint public appearance by Trump and Hillary Clinton since the three presidential debates that preceded Trump’s surprise election victory.

Bill Clinton will be one at least three ex-presidents at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Trump; George W. Bush and Jimmy Carter have also announced plans to attend.

Bush and former first lady Laura Bush “are pleased to be able to witness the peaceful transfer of power — a hallmark of American democracy,” spokesman Freddy Ford said Tuesday.

According to New York Magazine, Hillary decided to attend out of “a sense of duty and respect for the American democratic process.”

Trust and believe, had Trump lost he wouldn’t have gone anywhere near the event.