On the last day of his presidency, Donald Trump smashed one final norm, choosing not to attend the inauguration of his successor (the first time that’s happened since 1869). Instead, he boarded Marine One along with Melania Trump shortly after 8 a.m. and headed to Joint Base Andrews before departing for Mar-a-Lago to begin his new, post-presidential life.
There, he gave a short speech running down his greatest hits in a rather downbeat manner — far from the high-octane performances at his rallies, listing Space Force, a vaccine against the “China Virus,” tax cuts, and more as signature achievements to a crowd of enthusiastic supporters, including his family. Straying from the prepared remarks, he did not mention Joe Biden or Kamala Harris by name, but did manage to utter, “I wish the administration great luck and great success,” and predicted they would do well.
He repeatedly thanked his supporters, telling them, ominously, that “We’ll be back in some form.” And then, in an appropriate bit of weirdness, he capped off his speech, and presidency, with the immortal words “Have a good life, we’ll see you soon.”
The dulcet tones of “YMCA” blared from the speakers, followed by another Trump favorite, “My Way.” And with that, Trump was off to Florida.
