Trump, triumphant, received at the White House by Biden

Photo: Saul Loeb Agence France-Presse Donald Trump (left) was received Wednesday by Joe Biden (right), his sworn political enemy, at the White House.

Aurélia End – Agence France-Presse in Washington

Published at 11:03 Updated at 13:38

• United States

A courteous tone between two men who hate each other: Joe Biden received Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, where the Republican, crowned with a resounding victory in the presidential election, will settle in for good after his swearing-in on January 20.

After shaking hands with the outgoing head of state in the Oval Office, the 45th and soon to be 47th American president declared that the transition would be “the smoothest possible.”

The two men, seated by a fireplace, made very short statements before beginning their meeting, which was attended by their respective chiefs of staff (Jeff Zients for Joe Biden, Susie Wiles for Donald Trump).

“We will do everything possible to make sure that you have everything that you need,” said Joe Biden, who in recent years has very often described Donald Trump as a danger to American democracy.

“Welcome back”

He offered his “congratulations” to the president-elect and wished him a “welcome return” to the most famous office in the world, which Donald Trump held from 2017 to 2021.

The moment is humiliating for Joe Biden. Not only does he risk seeing much of his record dismantled by the new administration, he is also accused within his own party of having contributed to his great rival’s electoral triumph by clinging too long to his quest for a second term.

“Politics is tough, and often it’s not a very pleasant world. But it’s a nice world today and I’m grateful,” said the Republican, author of the most extraordinary comeback in recent political history.

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He himself had broken with all uses of democratic courtesy by not inviting Joe Biden after being beaten by him in the 2020 presidential election, which he never acknowledged, and then by boycotting the Democrat’s inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2021.

Upon his arrival on Wednesday, he met briefly with First Lady Jill Biden, who handed him a letter of congratulations for his wife Melania Trump, who was absent.

Donald Trump first went to Republicans, to whom he raised the possibility of running for the White House after his second term, which is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution.

“I think I'm not going to run again, unless you say, 'He's good, we need to look at something else,'” he said, to laughter from the audience.

Donald Trump is being prosecuted for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He also became the first president in history to be convicted of a criminal offense, in a case of concealed payments to a former porn actress.

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“Not in the lace”

Donald Trump is in the process of forming his future team, with appointments each more radical than the last.

Among the latest announcements by the president-elect: the richest man on the planet, Elon Musk, to head a new “Commission on Government Efficiency,” together with Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. The latter has already promised on X that the duo would “not do things by halves”.

If the three extremely wealthy businessmen come to a lasting agreement, they could make drastic cuts to the federal budget of the world's leading power and deregulate left, right and centre.

During the campaign, Elon Musk suggested that the commission could make up to 2 trillion in federal budget cuts, an amount exceeding the combined budgets of Defense, Education and Homeland Security.

A sign of his acquired importance with Donald Trump, the Tesla boss will accompany the winner of the presidential election in several stages of this highly scrutinized day.

Melania Trump, the wife of the future president, has announced that she will be absent, without giving a reason but wishing her husband “great success.”

For his return to Washington, Donald Trump will have a free hand: his party won the majority in the Senate and should retain control of the House of Representatives, according to a count still in progress.

He can also count on a Supreme Court firmly anchored on the right.