For years, President Joe Biden has emphasized that the peaceful transfer of power is imperative to preserving American democracy. This Wednesday, he had a chance to show what he meant, hosting President-elect Donald Trump at the White House.
It was a stark contrast to four years earlier. On the same date in 2020, Trump was still refusing to concede the election, even though the race had been called for a week, opting instead to spread conspiracy theories that culminated in a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Biden has spent the last four years warning about the danger to democracy that Trump posed, including two years in which the two men bitterly campaigned against each other directly. Trump, for his part, had baselessly called Biden “the destroyer of American democracy.”
The two sat side by side in front of a roaring fireplace in the White House as they answered questions from reporters.
Still, the two sat side by side in front of a roaring fireplace in the White House as they answered questions from reporters. Trump later commended Biden to the New York Post. “It’s going very smoothly,” he told the outlet on Thursday, emphasizing his “very, very good relationship” with the Biden White House.
It was more than just a photo-op, too. The Biden administration is also working with Trump’s transition team in a vital bureaucratic process to begin the handover of the machinery of the federal government. The day after the 2024 election, the General Services Administration issued a statement acknowledging Trump’s victory, saying the agency is “prepared to work with President-elect Trump’s transition team to complete the required agreement to receive GSA administrative services and support.”
This, too, was a contrast. Trump’s refusal to concede in 2020 extended to even these behind-the-scenes efforts, as Trump appointee Emily Murphy of the General Services Administration delayed the department’s acknowledgment of Biden’s victory. Not only did these actions further legitimize Trump’s bogus denial of his election loss, but they also stalled mundane but vital obligations designed to keep the executive branch operating uninterrupted — tasks like assigning email addresses and office space, allocating salaries and more.
Another moment of contrast is coming that will be even more significant. In 52 days, on Jan. 6, Vice President Kamala Harris will perform her duties when presiding over the U.S. Senate to count electoral votes and certify her own election loss. She will do so standing in the same spot that pro-Trump extremists overran, threatening to hang her predecessor for doing what every vice president before him had done.
It’s a sacred duty that Vice President-elect JD Vance said he wouldn’t have performed in 2020.
It’s a sacred duty that Vice President-elect JD Vance said he wouldn’t have performed in 2020 if he had been in that position.
In all of these actions, Biden and Harris are leading by example. These moments show their commitment to democracy goes deeper than their own political ambitions and demonstrate the importance of the very norms that Trump has sought to trample. It will be a brief respite, though, a swan song for Biden’s time as president, the last gasp of normalcy in the executive branch and the calm before the storm of a second Trump term.
For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders-Townsend, watch “The Weekend” every Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. ET on MSNBC.
Alicia Menendez
Alicia Menendez is a co-host of "The Weeknight," which airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC. She is also the host of the “Latina to Latina” podcast and the author of “The Likeability Trap: How to Break Free and Succeed As You Are.”
Evan Brechtel
Evan Brechtel is a segment producer on MSNBC's "The Weekend."