Trump Departs White House, With Capitol Riot Defining His Tumultuous Term

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Outgoing President Trump waves as he boards Marine One after leaving the White House.

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Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Inauguration Day: Live Updates

It was an ignominious end to Trump’s four years in the White House, during which he sought to reshape the courts and overhaul relationships with allies and adversaries in ways he said would help his supporters: the people who wore the red «Make America Great Again» ball caps and packed rallies to hear him blast the political elite.

Now, Trump will fly one last time in Air Force One to his South Florida club, while the political establishment that he railed against takes part in an Inauguration Day made almost unrecognizable by how heavily fortified it is against the risk of further violence from pro-Trump extremists who refuse to accept Biden’s election win.

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A pro-Trump mob floods into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

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Law
Can The Senate Try An Ex-President?

Politics
Republicans Wonder How, And If, They Can Pull The Party Back Together

«[It’s] hard to think of any good he might have done that would outshine that damning verdict,» Beschloss said.

After Trump lost the election, some of his allies had sought to try to help him find a way to continue his «America First» movement by focusing on a new role as Republican kingmaker.

Instead, he dove deeply down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories about widespread election fraud, shook U.S. confidence in free and fair elections that underpin American democracy, pushed scores of half-baked court challenges, and badgered Republicans — from local officials to Vice President Pence — to overturn results.

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President Trump speaks at the «Stop The Steal» Rally outside of the White House on Jan. 6, just before his supporters stormed the Capitol.

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Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Analysis
Trumpism Suffers Untold Damage In Its Collision With The U.S. Capitol

Two days later, Twitter took the remarkable step of permanently banning Trump from the platform «due to the risk of further incitement of violence.»

Trump later defended his rally speech as «totally appropriate,» even as some Republican lawmakers called on him to step down, and two Cabinet members and some White House aides resigned in protest.

«The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people,» Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Tuesday.

After Trump supporters listened to the president speak, a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, forcing members of Congress to take cover.

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Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Resentment over Russia probe

Trump, a New York real estate developer who rose to national fame as a reality television celebrity before making a longshot run for the nation’s highest office, had made spectacles, controversy and jaw-dropping braggadocio a trademark of his presidency, overcoming public relations nightmares that would have sunk traditional political figures.

He drove the news cycle with acid-tongued tweets and stunts. While presiding over the longest government shutdown in history, he had platters of McDonald’s hamburgers delivered to the White House, serving them to visiting college athletes by candlelight.

He gave plum White House and campaign jobs to his family members, drove business to his properties with visits and events, and insulted allies at world summits even as he worked to cultivate relationships with strongmen like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

Analysis
Trump Tried To Make This Election 2016 Again. It Didn’t Go As Planned

But Trump was fixated throughout his time in office on his resentment over the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which he felt hung over his time in office. Seeking to hobble a potential opponent for his reelection bid, he tried to get Ukraine to investigate Biden, which led to his first House impeachment for abusing his powers. Republicans in the Senate acquitted him in a trial that began almost a year ago.

Asked in July how he would describe his time in office, Trump said he would be remembered as a victim. «I’ve been very unfairly treated, and I don’t say that as paranoid. I’ve been very — everybody says it,» he told Fox News’ Chris Wallace.

Biden had cast the 2020 election as a referendum on Trump’s character and his willingness to exploit the country’s racial and economic divides for political gain.

Voters turned out in record numbers even as the coronavirus pandemic surged, with many motivated by anger over how Trump downplayed the severity of COVID-19 and failed to take steps to contain the spread.

Politics
Poll: Most Americans Think Trump Will Be Remembered As A Subpar President

Since the election, Trump has shown little interest in the pandemic, which has infected more than 24 million people in the U.S., killing more than 400,000 people, and throwing millions out of work, school and homes.

Now it’s up to Biden to get Americans fully vaccinated and address the economic crisis — something Americans agree should be the new president’s top priority, according to an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist survey out Tuesday.

Although Trump leaves as the nation deeply divided on many issues, the poll showed most Americans agree on this: Trump will go down as either a below-average president, or one of the worst in U.S. history.

It’s unclear what the next act is for the 74-year-old, who has been said to be considering another presidential run in 2024. In Tuesday’s farewell video, Trump said «that the movement we started is only just beginning.»

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President Trump spent weeks after the election looking for ways to reverse his defeat, culminating in a Jan. 6 rally that preceded a riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s tumultuous term in office ends Wednesday.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

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Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

President Trump spent weeks after the election looking for ways to reverse his defeat, culminating in a Jan. 6 rally that preceded a riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump’s tumultuous term in office ends Wednesday.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images