He left furious and defeated one morning in January 2021, and is returning triumphant and determined to shake up the very structure of the state, judging by his shattering appointments: Donald Trump is received Wednesday by Joe Bidenwho promised a smooth transition with his sworn enemy. The outgoing Democratic president is due to receive his Republican predecessor and successor at 11am local time (4pm GMT) in the Oval Office, which the 78-year-old tribune will occupy for good, and for the second time, after being sworn in on January 20.

Joe Biden pledged last week, after Donald Trump’s resounding presidential victory, to ensure a smooth transfer of power. “peaceful and orderly” with the man he has repeatedly described as a danger to American democracy. The outgoing president “believes in standards. He believes in institutions.”his spokeswoman said on Tuesday Karine Jean-Pierre.

The visit promises to be a humiliating one for the octogenarian Democrat, who knows that much of his record could be wiped out by the team his rival is putting together, with each new appointment more radical than the last.

Among the latest announced by the president-elect: the richest man on the planet, Elon Muskhead of a new ministry of “government efficiencytogether with Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. The latter has already promised on X that the duo will not “will not be gentle”.. If the three wealthy businessmen reach a lasting agreement, they could make drastic cuts in the federal budget of the world’s leading power and deregulate at every turn.

Revenge

For Donald Trump, the meeting with Joe Biden will have a strong taste of revenge. He had slammed the door on the White House on January 20, 2020, a few hours before Joe Biden made his entrance, without even attending his great rival’s inauguration ceremony. Nor did the Republican organize this courtesy visit between outgoing and incoming presidents, one of many breaks with decades of Washington custom by the unpredictable septuagenarian.

Donald Trump considers that the 2020 election, though validated by a number of courts, was stolen from him. According to Mike Johnson, a Republican leader in Congress, the president-elect could also spend a head on Wednesday at the Capitol, the building that his supporters stormed on January 6, 2021 in an attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election.

His party is already assured of a majority in the Senate, the upper house. Republicans should also retain control of the other component of the US Congress, the House of Representatives. With the Supreme Court now firmly on the right, Donald Trump will have a free hand.