The era of the Trump presidency was scheduled to end on Wednesday, with President-elect Joe Biden finally taking his place as the chief executive of the United States. Biden, of course, served for eight years as the vice president in the Obama administration, and on Wednesday — Biden’s inauguration day — former President Barack Obama shared a message in support of the incoming president on Twitter.
Alongside a photo of the two of them in the White House, Obama shared the following Inauguration Day message:
‘Congratulations to my friend, President @JoeBiden! This is your time.’
Congratulations to my friend, President @JoeBiden! This is your time. pic.twitter.com/LXzxGnBAfz
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 20, 2021
On Wednesday, after taking the oath of office, Biden was slated to take a slew of quick actions to undo some of the outgoing president’s policies. According to a CNN report, Biden planned to take 17 executive actions on his first day as president, ranging from a mask-wearing mandate for federal property to an end to Trump’s travel ban targeting a selection of Muslim-majority countries. Biden also planned to rejoin the Paris climate deal and reverse Trump’s planned withdrawal from the World Health Organization, an organization that Trump thought was a good idea to abandon right in the middle of a global pandemic. Biden also, among other steps, planned to cancel the national emergency declaration that Trump signed over the situation at the southern border.
Besides Biden’s actions, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris also had some critical business on the agenda. On Wednesday, after her own swearing in, she was slated to administer the oath of office for Georgia Senators-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, officially bringing two new Democrats into the Senate. Once Warnock and Ossoff take their positions, Democrats will have control of the chamber, where Harris herself will be tasked with breaking any ties in her role as vice president. Prior to Inauguration Day, the Biden team already unveiled an ambitious COVID-19 relief package including, among other provisions, an additional slight increase to unemployment assistance, money for state and local governments, and direct payments for individuals, and Congress will no doubt be seeking to quickly get moving on the legislation.
Check out Twitter’s response to Obama’s Inauguration Day message below:
