Saying good riddance to Trump


Trump left the White House without the pomp he had hoped for.

The outgoing president, who has broken with tradition by refusing to attend his successor’s inauguration, took a government helicopter from the White House at 8.18am, leaving what has been his home for four tumultuous years, and headed for Joint Base Andrews, a military facility in Maryland.

Trump had demanded that aides prepare an ostentatious ceremony at the base, accompanied by a sprawling audience, but two weeks after Trump incited a riot at the US Capitol, he got neither. The soon-to-be former president arrived at the military base just before 8.30am, and was met with a flat sendoff marked by a sparse crowd.


Trump was due to speak at 8am, but there was a delay, leaving the crowd waiting. Senior Republicans had shunned the event, including House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, in favor of attending Biden’s inauguration, and the audience for Trump’s final send off far from filled the small viewing pen that the that had been set up.

Even Trump’s vice-president Mike Pence didn’t make it – a White House official told reporters it would be difficult for Pence to attend both the send off and the inauguration.

Oddly, Trump chose to have the song My Way sung as his plane left, a downbeat song that is usually associated with a person’s dying words.

Here are the late night talk shows from last night.

Seth Meyers:

Conan O’Brien gives the end credits for the people in the Trump administration:

Stephen Colbert:

Jonathan Pie gave an extra long rant that summarized Trump’s four years.

Comments

  1. Reginald Selkirk says

    Trump could have his pompous send-off at minimal cost and inconvenience. The solution: virtual reality. He’s been living in his own world for years any way.

  2. blf says

    @6, And, possibly, teh mob.

    Pointed out elsewhere (sorry, don’t now have a reference), paraphrasing, “My Way is typically sung at funerals”.

  3. publicola says

    Seth Meyers was good, but Jonathan Pie…whew!. Leave it to a Brit to speak the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. I’d like to lock Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham in a room for a week with Pie on an endless loop blaring from loudspeakers. It would be a well-deserved dose of their own medicine.

  4. Ridana says

    was due to speak at 8am, but there was a delay, leaving the crowd waiting.

    True to form. Did the ones who showed up have to hitchhike home too?

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