When Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20th, 2021, most of the normal festivities will be done virtually due to the pandemic.
However, there will be one person not in attendance that again shows how deep the divide is politically across the United States, current President Donald Trump.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” Trump tweeted Friday.
In his tweet from his previously suspended account, the president shared that he will skip this ceremonial passing of the torch between presidents, a tradition that goes back to the 18th century.
There have only been a few occasions where the outgoing president didn’t show up for the inauguration, and it hasn’t happened in 150 years.
Three times in the 1800’s, the former president was a no-show. John Adams in 1801, John Quincy Adams in 1829 and Andrew Johnson in 1869 all skipped the ceremony. Both of the Adams' were engaged in extremely tight races that lead to bitterness from the incumbent. John Adams actually tied Thomas Jefferson in 1801 which forced the House to break the deadlock.
One thing Johnson in 1869 and Trump in 2021 share in common? They were both impeached by the House.
There are new concerns following this past Wednesday's violence at the Capitol surrounding security for the inauguration. Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is a Ranking Member in the Senate Rules Committee which gives her duties in planning the Inauguration. Klobuchar is optimistic about what that day will hold for repairing some of what happened Wednesday.
“I'm going to be sitting up there speaking at the Inauguration because I'm in charge of it with Senator Blunt and we're going to clearly have beefed up security there. But we also will have that moment where the all leaders, Democratic, Republican, are going to be sitting behind Joe Biden when he takes that oath of office. And I think that's going to be a really important moment for our country. We're not a dictatorship.”
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