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President Joe Biden took a swing at Donald Trump’s manners on Tuesday, saying he would attend the former president’s inauguration if he were re-elected in November.
Standing on the South Lawn of the White House, shortly before departing on Marine One to New Orleans, the president was asked if he would attend the inauguration if the Republican nominee succeeds.
“I have good manners, not like him,” Biden responded, referring to Trump’s refusal to attend his inauguration on January 20, 2021.
Famously, Trump did not attend Biden’s inauguration, breaking the tradition of the outgoing president passing the torch to the incoming president. Tensions between the two men were at an all-time high as Trump refused to concede the 2020 presidential election results or participate in the transfer of power for several weeks.
The former president refused to acknowledge Biden as the winner. For months, he spread false claims of election fraud and inflamed his supporters with allegations that the election was “stolen” from him.
Weeks before the inauguration, on January 6, 2021, Trump held a “Stop the Steal” rally and encouraged a mass of his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” for the country.
The mob of angry Trump supporters then violently stormed the Capitol while Congress was supposed to be certifying election results.
Weeks later, as Biden took to the national stage to be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States, Trump departed on Marine One and headed to his residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
At the time, Biden said Trump’s non-appearance was “a good thing.”
While insinuating he would attend a Trump inauguration – if nothing else then for good manners’ sake – Biden also maintained to reporters that Trump is a “genuine danger” to American security.
The president has asked that the inflammatory political rhetoric around Trump be “lowered” after a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate the president during a rally.
When asked by a reporter if maintaining Trump was a threat to American security aligned with Biden’s request to reduce divisive rhetoric, the president responded, “That’s just a statement. That’s a factual statement.”
