President-elect Donald Trump, the incoming 47th president of the United States of America, will meet with President Joe Biden on Wednesday in the Oval Office as part of a peaceful transition of power tradition at the White House.
The peaceful transition of power dates back to 1801, when a president from the outgoing administration handed over power to the incoming administration and an opposing political party. At that time, John Adams, the nation’s second president, peacefully transferred the presidency to Thomas Jefferson.
However, on Wednesday morning, President Biden will offer Trump something he was not afforded when elected in 2020: a meeting with the current president inside the White House Oval Office.
During that year, then-President Trump falsely accused Democrats of stealing the presidential election from him to install then-former-Vice President Biden as the 46th president of the United States.
Trump’s own vice president, Mike Pence, moved to follow the Constitution and certify the 2020 election results, declaring Biden the victor of the Electoral College — against Trump’s wishes. As a result of President Trump’s election lies, which included encouraging his voters to “fight like hell” or they “won’t have a country anymore,” a mob of Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol building after attending a Trump “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021.
For Trump, there is irony in the tradition of outgoing and incoming presidents as he, as president-elect, had to face then-President Barack Obama during his Oval Office meeting marking the upcoming peaceful transition. Their meeting came after Trump had viciously attacked Obama and his Democratic presidential opponent, Hillary Clinton, in 2016.
Trump and Obama met in the Oval Office on Nov. 16, 2018. The two politicians had never met in person before, which was particularly notable after a rancorous and racially charged presidential campaign.
To the dismay of Black Americans and Democrats writ large, Trump soft-launched his bid for president on the racist birtherism claim that Obama was not a U.S. citizen. By doing so, critics say, Trump sought to delegitimize Obama’s historic presidential win in 2008.
During the planned and anticipated meeting, Obama was said to be “presidential” and “professional” at that time, putting the hate of the campaign aside and meeting with Trump for about 90 minutes, much longer than the allotted time. The agenda’s discussion touched on various topics for the incoming president to foster a peaceful transition of power.
Although President Biden is extending every presidential courtesy to the new yet White House-familiar Trump transition team, sources contend there is bad blood. Yet again, during the 2024 election cycle, Trump used race and smear tactics against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.
In his first appearance in the Oval with President Obama, flanked by a Martin Luther King Jr. bronze bust to the right of the fireplace, Trump told the press in the room, “This was a meeting that was going to last maybe 10 or 15 minutes, and we were just getting to know each other.”
The native New Yorker went on to say, “We had never met each other. So I have great respect.”
“The meeting lasted for almost an hour and a half, and as far as I am concerned, it could have lasted a lot longer. We really discussed a lot of different situations,” Trump said at the time.
Trump, seemingly impressed and needing help to navigate his new White House job – which former first lady Michelle Obama famously noted as a “Black job” while taking a jab at him at this year’s DNC – told reporters, “I very much look forward to dealing with the president in the future, including counsel.”
As Democrats and others try to shake off a collective depression over Harris’ stunning loss to Trump, many are anticipating what to expect from a second Trump administration.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said he expects Trump’s second time in the White House to resemble a “1930s apartheid” system. During an election night interview, Johnson told theGrio the outcome of the contest between Harris and Trump should not be about the candidates or political parties but about “the public policy direction that we decide as America we want to take.”
In the 2024 presidential contest, Trump won the popular vote and the Electoral College – the first Republican to do so since 2004. Trump received slightly more of the electoral vote than he received in the last election, which put him over the top. However, a major hurdle for Democrats was turnout at the polls as apathy among the party has seemingly reared its head.
No matter the outcome, Johnson offered hope for the country, affirming, “We must push and have hope.”
