How Joe Biden will move into the White House as Donald Trump leaves his mess behind

The mess Donald Trump looks set to leave behind in the White House as he continues to stall the transition of power to Joe Biden will make a new mark on history.

When the incoming staff of newly elected President George W Bush arrived in the West Wing in 2001, they were subjected to one of the more notorious practical jokes in US political history.

Computer keyboards had their “W” keys removed, antique doorknobs and presidential seals were stolen and the bathrooms defaced in a “frat party” style exit by the outgoing team of Bill Clinton.

“The Clinton administration treated the White House worse than college freshmen checking out of their dorm rooms,” said outraged Georgia Republican Bob Barr at the time.

The 2000 election is often compared to the 2020 poll because Americans waited 37 days for Democrat candidate Al Gore’s ultimately unsuccessful challenge to the results to be settled after legal claims went all the way to the Supreme Court.

But the mess Donald Trump looks set to leave behind in the White House next month as he continues to dispute the election result and stalls the transition of power to Joe Biden promises to make even more of a mark on history.

“Like so much of what has happened this election, this is unprecedented,” said presidential historian Mark Updegrove.

“I can think of no administration where the incumbent and ultimately outgoing president has not only refused to concede the election, but has offered up baseless claims of the election being rigged and has taken steps to, if not sabotage, at least compromise the pending administration of his successor.

“And that’s what we’re seeing with Donald Trump.”

George W. Bush takes the oath of office as the 43rd President.

President Bill Clinton is sworn back in a second time as President.

Updegrove and others warn that the chaos sparked by Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his loss to Biden not only threatens the country’s coronavirus response but could embolden America’s enemies.

“It’s one thing to remove the W’s from a keyboard – that’s just silly, sophomoric hijinx, but it’s not going to compromise the success of the incoming administration.”

“There are many who say that the delay in resolving the election outcome of 2000, that 37 day delay, in some ways made us less able to react to the terrorism on 9/11,” said Updegrove, the CEO of the LBJ Foundation in Austin.

“The George W Bush administration could have been better prepared had they had more transitionary time with the Clinton administration.”

It’s a view with which many observers agree.

Perhaps influenced by the mayhem that greeted his arrival at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Bush conducted what is described by many at the “model transition” with his successor, Barack Obama in 2008.

Former US President George W Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush, former First Lady Michelle Obama and fomer US President Barack Obama.

“Barack Obama, when he took over, he was right in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression,” explains Boston University political historian Tom Whalen.

“Fortunately, that transition was probably a model for all presidents. The Bush administration was very organised and efficient. They shared everything, everything was transparent.

“And the country, I think it’s important to note, was close to basically going over a cliff economically speaking. But we were able to avoid that. And I think the transition, given how well it went, was a big reason.”

The US Constitution ends the current presidential term on January 20, at which point in normal years a lightning fast transformation would be scheduled to make the White House ready for its new inhabitants.

“The rules are that the rooms of the outgoing family remain as they are until noon on Inauguration Day,” says Carl Anthony, an historian who has written a dozen books about First Ladies.

Dozens of White House staff previously removed all trace of the departing First Family in the two or three absence allowed by the traditional pomp of the day, including a Capital Hill luncheon, march along the Washington Mall and swearing in.

“They can take their own thing and then they can move things out early if they wish,” Anthony says.

Donald Trumpis greeted by US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as he arrives at the White House in Washington, DC January 20, 2017.

Melania Trump meets Michelle Obama at the White House. Picture: Chuck Kennedy/White House

“But technically and legally, the private quarters of the White House look exactly as they have been under the current family until noon on Inauguration Day and then literally, with about only an hour or two hour s … the rooms have to be done up for the new family.”

With so much uncertainty about Trump’s continuing challenges, it’s widely speculated that he won’t attend Inauguration Day in Washington DC and there were reports this week he is planning a rival event at his Florida base which he may use to announce a tilt for the 2024 Republican nomination.

If he doesn’t show up, Trump would be the first president in 150 years to do so with John Adams in 1801, John Quincy Adams in 1829 and Andrew Johnson in 1869 the only previous office holders to eschew a graceful handover.

US President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris react as confetti falls, with Jill Biden and Douglas Emhoff, after being declared the winners of the presidential election.

“Inaugurations are kind of a remarkable moment because the old president essentially has no role other than just to kind of sit there and listen,” says Brian Carso, a Republican local office holder and professor of history and government at Misercordia University in Dallas.

“It’s a strange magisterial moment because the outgoing president is giving up everything and the incoming president is gaining everything and it’s done traditionally with courtesy and civility.

“But what Trump is doing is he’s thrown up the monkey wrench … which means he probably won’t be at the inauguration and that sends a horrible message to the world, because that has always been kind of a strength in American history that despite these really rough and tumble presidential contests, when it comes to the Inauguration Day, we are all Americans.”

FIRST LADY GIFT TRADITIONS

Incoming First Lady Michelle Obama may have started a new tradition when she gave Laura Bush a gift as she entered the White House but it was one that seemed to slip her mind eight years later.

Mrs Obama handed Mrs Bush a cream box containing a journal and pen when the outgoing First Couple greeted the newcomers on the White House steps on January 20, 2009.

Eight years later, Mrs Obama appeared to have forgotten the gesture, appearing surprised when Melania Trump handed her a blue Tiffany box when the Obamas greeted the Trumps for a handover.

She later explained her awkward reception on the Ellen show, saying that it had been an unscripted surprise.

“I mean, this is like a state visit, so they tell you that you’re going to do this, they’re going to stand here,” Mrs Obama said in 2018.

“Never before do you get this gift, so I’m sort of like, okay.”

A more time honoured tradition are the personal messages left by outgoing presidents for the their successors.

Former First ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama in 2008.

“This is a unique office, without a clear blueprint for success, so I don’t know that any advice from me will be particularly helpful,” wrote Barack Obama to Donald Trump in a note that started with congratulations on a “remarkable run”.

“Still, let me offer a few reflections from the past 8 years.

“First, we’ve both been blessed, in different ways, with great good fortune. “Not everyone is so lucky. It’s up to us to do everything we can (to) build more ladders of success for every child and family that’s willing to work hard.”

George W Bush warned Obama of many challenges ahead but promised his ongoing support.

“Very few have had the honour of knowing the responsibility you now feel,” he wrote.

“Very few know the excitement of the moment and the challenges you will face.

“There will be trying moments. The critics will rage. Your “friends” will disappoint you. But, you will have an Almighty God to comfort you, a family who loves you, and a country that is pulling for you, including me.

“No matter what comes, you will be inspired by the character and compassion of the people you now lead.”

Originally published as How Joe Biden will move into the White House as Donald Trump leaves his mess behind