After his tenure, President Donald Trump said goodbye to Washington on Wednesday but also hinted at a comeback, despite the legacy of chaos, tumult and bitter divisions in the country he led for four years.
“So just goodbye. We love you, ”Trump said to supporters at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, where he walked the red carpet and boarded Air Force One for a flight to Florida. “We’ll be back in some form.”
Trump stepped down as the only president ever charged twice, with millions more unemployed than when he was sworn in and 400,000 dead from the coronavirus. Under his watch, the Republicans lost the presidency and both houses of Congress. He will be remembered forever for instigating a riot two weeks before Democrat Joe Biden’s move into the Capitol White House that left five dead, including a Capitol police officer, and appalled the nation. On the day of inauguration on January 20, 2017, Trump painted a terrible picture of “American slaughter”.
Trump is the first president in modern history to boycott his successor’s inauguration. He’s still stewing over his loss, claiming that the elections Biden won were stolen from him. Republican officials in several critical states, members of his own administration, and a host of judges, including those appointed by Trump, have rejected these arguments.
Trump refused to partake in any of the symbolic torch-passing traditions surrounding peaceful transfer of power, including inviting Joe and Jill Biden to the White House to meet you.
He followed at least one tradition: The White House said Trump left a note for Biden. A Trump spokesman, Judd Deere, declined to say what Trump wrote or characterized the sentiment in the note, citing privacy for communications between presidents.
Members of Trump’s family gathered at the military base to say goodbye with the President’s loyalists singing, “We love you!” “Thank you, Trump” and “USA” Four army cannons fired a 21-cannon salute.
Trump spoke without notes, saying his presidency was “an incredible four years”. He told the crowd that he and First Lady Melania Trump loved them and praised his family for their hard work, saying they could have chosen an easier life.
“It was very special. We have achieved a lot, “Trump said, citing installing conservative judges, creating the space force, developing coronavirus vaccines and managing a resilient economy before the pandemic. “I hope they don’t raise your taxes, but if they do, I told you,” he said of the incoming Biden administration.
He admitted that it was not a “regular administration” and told his supporters that he would be returning in some form. He said the Trump campaign worked so hard: “We left everything in the field,” he said.
Without mentioning Biden’s name, Trump wished the new administration the best of luck and success, which he thought would be easier because he had laid “a foundation stone”.
“I will always fight for you,” he told the crowd. “I’ll watch. I’ll listen.”
Before arriving at the airport, Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House that it was the honor of his life to be president.
“We love the American people, and again it was very special,” he said of the sound of the Marine One helicopter. “And I just want to say goodbye, but hopefully it’s not a long-term goodbye. We’ll meet Again. “
If the schedule applies, by the time Biden is sworn in, Trump will have landed at his private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida. He will face an uncertain future.
Aides had urged Trump to spend his final days in office trying to save his legacy by highlighting his administration’s accomplishments – tax cuts, reduced federal regulations, normalizing relations in the Middle East. But Trump largely refused, took a single trip to the Texas border and posted a video promising his followers that “the movement we have started is just beginning”. In his final hours, Trump apologized to more than 140 people, including his former strategists, rap performers, ex-congressmen and other allies of himself and his family.
Trump will retreat to Florida with a small group of former White House advisors to plan a political future that looks very different now than it was two weeks ago.
Prior to the January 6th Capitol uprising, Trump was expected to remain the de facto leader of his party, who wielded enormous power as he served as kingmaker and contemplated a 2024 presidential election. But now he seems more powerless than ever – shunned by so many in his party, accused twice, denied the Twitter megaphone he wanted to use as a weapon, and even faced the prospect that if he was in his Senate trial will be excluded from seeking a second term.
EXPLAINER: Can Trump be charged after leaving office?
For the moment, Trump remains angry and embarrassed, full of anger and complaint. He spent the week after the election delving deeper and deeper into a world of conspiracy, and those who spoke to him say he continues to believe he won in November. He has attacked Republicans for alleged infidelity and publicly and privately threatened to spend the coming years supporting primary challenges against those who feel betrayed him.
Some expect him to turn against the Republican Party entirely at some point, perhaps by flirting with a run as a third-party candidate in revenge.
Despite all the chaos and drama and the bending of the world to his will, Trump ended his term as he began it: largely alone. The Republican Party he co-opted finally seemed to have had enough after Trump’s supporters forcibly stormed the Capitol and searched for lawmakers who refused to obey Trump’s unconstitutional efforts to overturn the results of a Democratic election.
The White House cleaning teams worked overnight Wednesday and were still leaving when the sun rose to clean the building and prepare it for the new residents. Most of the walls were stripped down to the hooks that once held photos, and the offices had no clutter or trinkets to give them life.
While Trump has left the White House, with the support of millions of loyal voters and allies who still run the Republican National Committee and many state party organizations, he holds a grip on the Republican base.
The city he is leaving will not miss him. Trump rarely left the White House borders other than to visit his own hotel. He and his wife never dined in any other local restaurant and never dared shop in their stores or see the sights. When he left it was almost always one of his properties: his golf course in Virginia, his golf course in New Jersey, his private club, and the nearby golf course in Palm Beach, Florida.
The city overwhelmingly supported Biden with 93% of the vote. Trump received just 5.4% of the vote – or fewer than 18,600 ballots – not enough to fill the Washington Capitals hockey arena.
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Washington associate press writer Darlene Superville contributed to this report.
Jill Colvin, The Associated Press
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