[imagesource: Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images]

Today’s the day, America.

As the clock strikes midday in Washington DC, which is 7PM here in South Africa, it becomes former president Donald Trump.

Usually, there would have been a flurry of tweets in the lead-up to today, boasting of his ‘great achievements’ over the past four years (“nobody has ever done more”, etc), but Trump’s account has been suspended.

Instead, POTUS released a nearly 20-minute video to blow his own trumpet, with a summary of sorts via Al Jazeera:

…he described the success of his “America First” platform and telling his supporters that “the movement we started is only just beginning”…

Trump, who has maintained his false claims that November’s presidential election was “stolen” from him amid widespread voter fraud, described himself on Tuesday as “the only true outsider ever to win the presidency”…

He did “extend our best wishes” to the incoming administration, as well as wishing them luck (“a very important word”), but failed to mention Joe Biden by name, and did not explicitly acknowledge that he had lost the election.

There was also another acknowledgement that “political violence is an attack on everything we cherish as Americans”, which is really a little too late on that front.

If you’re up for it, here’s that full farewell address:

On Trump’s final day in office, the US death toll from COVID-19 ticked over the 400 000 mark. Of his many, many failings, that may remain his greatest of all.

Melania has also been preparing herself for life outside of the White House, and she released her farewell message on Monday.

I don’t have the energy to delve into what she said, other than to say, I don’t really care, do you?

A Farewell Message from First Lady Melania Trump pic.twitter.com/WfG1zg2mt4

— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) January 18, 2021

It’s reported that Melania will break tradition by not inviting the incoming First Lady, Dr Jill Biden, for a tour of the White House before the handover of power.

They probably wouldn’t have much to talk about, anyway.

Melania leaves the White House with the worst popularity rating for any first lady at the end of her term in polling history, and the numbers aren’t great for Donald, either.

Goodbye, and good riddance, to them both.

[source:aljazeera]