Outgoing PresidentDonald Trumpleft Washington, D.C. for Florida for the final time on Wednesday, arriving in the Sunshine State just as his successorJoe Bidenkicked off his Inauguration Day events.
There was no crowd to greet Trump and his family at Palm Beach International Airport. As the former president’s motorcade drove him to his private residence, according to reporters traveling with him, some Trump supporters and dissenters had gathered along the route.
“You’re fired,” one person’s sign read, while others noted support or messages reading “We love you.” Other signs in Trump’s eyeshot were more blunt: “Loser,” one read.
Trump arrived at his private club with 29 minutes left in his presidency, less than a half hour before Biden, 78, took office. He waved to reporters and mouthed “thank you,” but did not stop to talk.
Before boarding Air Force One earlier in the morning, Trump delivered a boasting, self-congratulatory speech touting his performance as the 45th president. “The things that we’ve done have just been incredible,” he said.
Trump family awaits their father’s departure on Air Force One on Wednesday.ALEX EDELMAN/AFP/Getty
Traditionally, outgoing presidents and first ladies stand on the steps of the White House welcoming the president-elect and incoming first lady to their new home.
The new first lady often gives the outgoing first lady a gift. Mrs. Trump handedMichelle Obamaa blue Tiffany’s box that Mrs. Obama later toldEllen DeGenerescontained a “lovely frame.” Mrs. Obama previously gave Laura Bush a cream-colored package when she arrived.
Recently, the new president daughter, Ashley Biden, confirmed toToday’s Jenna Bush Hager that Mrs. Trumpdid not reach outto First Lady Dr. Jill Biden about the traditional visit.
From left: Donald and Melania Trump leave the White House on Jan. 20.MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty
The two couples smile, pose for pictures, and then travel together to the inauguration ceremony. Later, the outgoing president departs on a chopper from the White House lawn and then, traditionally, flies commercial to begin his next chapter.
But two days after the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, in one of his last tweets before being banned from Twitter, Trumpwrote that he will not be attending Biden’s swearing-in ceremony. “To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th,” he tweeted.
“Him not being there is a good thing,” Biden said later that day at a press conference in Delaware when he announced his cabinet members. Biden declared it was “one of the few things” he and Trump agreed on.
The Trump family at the Republican National Convention in August.JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
President Donald Trump gestures to supporters en route to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, after leaving the White House on Wednesday.Lynne Sladky/AP/Shutterstock
Trump joins a very short list of past presidents who opted to not attend their successor’s swearing-in ceremony.
Richard Nixon left the White House before then-Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in, John Adams skipped the 1801 inauguration and John Quincy Adams skipped the 1829 inauguration. Andrew Johnson — the first president to be impeached — also skipped the 1869 inauguration when Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in.
Also notably absent from Inauguration Day were Trump’s children.
“Ivanka isnot expected to attendthe inauguration nor was she ever expected to,” a White House official told PEOPLE a week before the swearing-in ceremony.
A source also told PEOPLE that newly engaged Tiffany Trump has beenactively looking for a housein Miami Beach.
The Trump children’s decision to head south to Florida aligns with the idea that the president and his children are looking to start their next chapter in Florida, where he owns the Mar-a-Lago Club, sources have previously told PEOPLE.
President Trump, a lifelong New Yorker,became a Florida resident in 2019, filing paperwork to officially designate Mar-a-Lago as his family’s place of primary residence.
Sources told PEOPLE in December that his residence at theclub is undergoing renovations, and that Mrs. Trump has been scoping out local schools for their 14-year-old son Barron.
Spokespeople for the president did not respond to a request for comment, though a White House source told PEOPLE the Trump family “has many homes and they will be traveling between them.”
source: people.com
