Biden: “This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day.”

Joe Biden is sworn in the 46th president of the United States in a relatively short and heavily guarded inauguration ceremony

Newly sworn-in  President Joe Biden and his Vice-Presiden Kamala Harris wave to the public on their inauguration day. [Photo: Getty Images]
A tumultuous transfer of power finally came to a conclusion today in the United States with the inauguration of Joe Biden as 46th US president and Kamala Harris as the very first female vice president.

The Inauguration ceremony was heavily guarded by 25,000 troops on the steps of the capitol building in light of recent events that unfolded on the Hill leading to an insurrection that lead to the deaths of five people including Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick.

After taking his oath of office, Mr Biden became the oldest incoming US president at 79 years old, and he will be joined in leading the country out of Trump-induced chaos by a former senator of California, Kamala Harris who is also the very first black vice-president.

“This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day,” Biden said. “The will of the people has been heard… Democracy has prevailed.”

In a relatively brief inaugural address, Biden called on the American people and their public servants alike to end the uncivil conflict that puts republican and democrats against each other and focus on the dominant issues at hand – a nation that has been fragmented in a way unlike any other and a Covid-19 outbreak so bad it has claimed the lives of over 400,000 Americans.

It was due to the ongoing Coronavirus crisis that the crowd at the usually packed inaugural ceremony was relatively thin as the previous administration’s mismanagement of the virus has lead to the US being the leading nation in the world in the number of recorded cases and deaths.

Biden in his very first days of Presidency is expected to roll back a record number of his predecessor’s executive orders, beginning with the highly controversial Muslim ban, rejoining the Paris climate accord and halting the US’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization.

Former presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Goerge bush as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton all attended the ceremony in support of the incoming president but breaking with tradition, Donald Trump was missing and continued to refuse concession his last hours of the presidency as he jetted off to Florida before the inauguration.

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