Biden’s Inauguration: Live Updates

President Biden is speaking with reporters as he signs the 17 executive orders slated for today.

“The president wrote a very generous letter,” he revealed of Trump’s note to him. “Because it was private, I won't talk about it until I talk to him. But it was generous.”

And in the other swearing-ins —  Jon Ossoff, Raphael Warnock, and Alex Padilla are all being officially made U.S. Senators by Kamala Harris.

Joe Biden has now arrived at the White House and declared today “a National Day of Unity.”

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are now at Arlington National Cemetery, laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier with former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.

Update: it now appears to have been changed back.

On the Biden administration social media accounts: the Washington Free Beacon notes that the name of the U.S. ambassador to Israel's Twitter account has been changed to now read, “the official Twitter account of the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.”

Such a move implies that the Biden administration appears to be determining that neither the West Bank nor the Gaza territories are part of Israel — a significant foreign policy shift.

Andy McCarthy on the corrupt pardon of Steve Bannon: “Bannon was not indicted alone — he has three codefendants, none of whom received a pardon from the president. The only salient difference between the three codefendants and Bannon is that Bannon is an insider: a Trump 2016 campaign official and former top White House adviser.”

Isaac Schorr reviews Biden’s speech and the poem that came after it, which “said this quiet part — implicit in Biden’s speech — rather loudly.”

I'm seeing a few folks on social media scoffing about the small crowd size for Biden's inauguration… either ignoring or not realizing that the entire National Mall and Memorial Parks are closed to all public access until tomorrow, and there are no Inauguration Day events for the public to attend in person. Washington D.C. Metro stations near the national mall are closed, and three major bridges across the Potomac are closed. This is the first presidential inauguration where the general public is barred from getting anywhere near it.

Beyond that… Biden's inaugurated. The election's over. The votes have been counted and re-counted and certified. The campaign's over. Isn't it time to put aside the “no one really supports Biden” trope?

President Biden’s speech was fine. Most inauguration speeches aren’t remembered; if a new president is really lucky and skilled, a particular phrase will stick in the minds of viewers and make its way into the history books: “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country.” Very often inaugural addresses reach for soaring oratory and turn into Whitney Houston: “I believe that children are the future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.”

Perhaps Biden’s opening lines will resonate a bit more, simply because of what happened on that spot, two weeks ago today: “Today we celebrate the triumph, not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy… Democracy is precious. Democracy is fragile. And at this hour — my friends, democracy has prevailed.”

The Joe Biden who shows up for these big speeches is a pretty appealing character – humble, plainspoken, focused on uniting Americans, rejecting reflexive animosity towards the political opposition. But calling for unity, cooperation and goodwill is the easy part. Practicing it is much harder. Every president makes similar pledges and calls for cooperation, and they rarely pan out. Biden’s cabinet nominees are a tougher bunch of partisans, with bruises of past fights. Democrats haven’t had the White House, control of the Senate and the House of Representatives since the House members were sworn in January 5, 2011, and are eager to enact their agenda, no matter what 50 Senate Republicans and 211 House Republicans think of it. Many Democrats still seethe about the outrages of the Trump presidency, and many Republicans see Biden as the figurehead for a radically leftist agenda, determined to permanently change the country. Conflict is inevitable; the question is whether the disagreement can thaw into something milder than unyielding, angry animosity.