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It was his last chance for a presidential appearance, and Donald Trump used it primarily to praise himself. The outgoing US president defended the balance of his government in his farewell speech to the nation. In a video address, Trump affirmed numerous successes in domestic, economic and foreign policy: “We have restored American strength at home and American leadership abroad.”
At the same time, Trump wished the future administration of his successor, Joe Biden, success, without even mentioning him by name in the 20-minute speech. “This week we are ushering in a new administration in office and we pray for its success in keeping America safe and prosperous,” Trump said in a video message released by the White House the day before his term ended.
Trump also praised his work as president: “The world respects us again. Please don’t lose this respect. ” He listed his mediation work in the Middle East as successes of his tenure. “I am particularly proud to be the first president in decades who has not started new wars.”
Trump sees his fight against Corona as a great success
The most controversial American president of recent decades also described his fight against the corona pandemic as a huge success, the day the number of deaths per crown in the United States surpassed the 400,000 threshold. Trump particularly emphasized the rapid development of vaccines.
He also claimed that his government had exceeded its targets. “We have revived our alliances and unite the nations of the world to confront China like never before.” In fact, the relationship with traditional allies like Germany has been very strained after Trump’s term. The president had started a trade war with the EU. Trump had also threatened the United States with withdrawing from NATO (read more about Trump’s balance sheet here).
Trump did not admit his defeat to Biden in the presidential election in early November and tried to reverse Biden’s victory with extremely questionable methods. Democrat Biden will be sworn in on Wednesday afternoon (local time) in Washington. Trump has announced that he will stay away from the ceremony. He is the first president since Andrew Johnson in 1869 not to attend his successor’s inauguration ceremony on Capitol Hill.
Trump condemns violence
His resistance to defeat culminated almost two weeks ago when supporters of the president-elect who were willing to use violence stormed the Capitol. Trump had previously asked his fans to march to the Capitol in an incendiary speech and is therefore held responsible for the violence. A week ago, the United States House of Representatives launched an impeachment process against Trump for “inciting a riot.”
In his video message, Trump said: “Political violence is an attack on all that we Americans value. It can never be tolerated.” However, he also stated: “Now that I am preparing to hand over power to a new government on Wednesday lunchtime, I want you to know that the movement we started will not take place until The Beginning Is.”
