Presiden Joe Biden shaking hands with Donald
Trump in front of a White House fireplace resumed a
tradition that the president-elect broke four years ago as he was heading
out of the White House door.
Biden — smiling next to a man he was running against
for his re-election campaign until July of this year, and who he has spent
years warning of his singular threat to American democracy and the rule of law
— told Trump
“welcome back” and promised to make sure he is
“accommodated” as he preparesto return to the White House for another
four years starting January 20.
The meeting, which Trump denied Biden when he defeated
him in the 2020 election, joins the president’s wider efforts to reaffirm
democratic norms in the wake of Trump’s rampant election denialism that fueled
a mob’s attack on the Capitol four years ago.
For some Democrats, the meeting marked an important
moment that underscored the differences in their administrations. But the
moment has also drawn criticism that Biden and the Democratic Party broadly are
failing to heed their own warnings.
Biden’s “welcome” — despite his years of warnings
about Trump’s antidemocratic threats and autocratic agenda — follows Vice
President Kamala Harris’s concession and congratulations to an opponent she
agreed is dangerous, unfit for office, and a fascist.
The president had previously pledged that he would direct the “entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition.”
Trump’s team has yet to sign any legally required
transition agreements, including an ethics pledge stating that he will avoid
conflicts of interest, and documents that would allow his team to begin
receiving classified briefings before entering office.
The outgoing Biden-Harris administration has sought to
maintain institutional stability in an unprecedented transition. Democratic
critics have warned that those commitments to established norms aren’t matching
their own words and actions, while Trump’s supporters argue that the meeting
proves Biden’s warnings were disingenuous.
“This meeting is not an indication that things are now
‘normal’ and should not be portrayed as such by the media,” former
Attorney General Eric Holder said .“Only for me, not for thee! Here is
Donald Trump, praising the professionalism and orderly presidential transition
he denied the incoming Biden administration in 2020,” wrote Democratic
congressman Don Beyer.
“If Trump is a threat to democracy, as Biden has said,
and a fascist, as Harris has said, why is the administration treating this
transfer of power as normal?” asked Democratic strategist Keith
Edwards .
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told
reporters on Wednesday that Biden’s previous warnings “still stand.”
“And it’s not just him. You heard this from former
staffers,” she said, referencing statements from Trump’s own former officials.
Biden invited Trump to the White House “because he
believes in the norms, he believes in our institution, he believes in a
peaceful transfer of power,” Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. “The American people
deserve this. They deserve a peaceful transfer of power. They deserve a smooth
transition. And that’s what you’re going to see.”
After the meeting, she said they shared a “substantive
exchange of views” on national security and domestic policy, and that Biden
recommitted to “an orderly transition and a peaceful transition of power.”
Presidential historian and Rice University professor
Douglas Brinkley told MSNBC that their meeting was a
“heartwarming” reminder that “we can go on” after the “surreal carnival” of the
2024 election.
“It is the absolute right thing for both Trump and
Biden to be doing right now,” he said.
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