donald trump is spending his last full
day
as president of the united states before
joe biden is sworn in tomorrow
as the nation's 46th president but in a
break with tradition
mr trump will not be attending his
successors inauguration
and he's decided to fly to his resort in
florida
sometime in the morning thousands of
soldiers have been deployed around
washington dc in the biggest security
operation
ever seen for a presidential
inauguration as much of the
us capital is of course being protected
that's the home of american democracy
it's been fenced off
following the riots by mr trump's
supporters a fortnight ago
and so on the eve of that inauguration
let's join our north america editor john
sopel who's in washington
hugh it's been a presidency that has
defied
all convention and why should it end any
differently
joe biden has now arrived in washington
dc a few moments ago and he's going to
spend the night
just across the street from the white
house but donald trump and mr biden
will not meet instead tomorrow morning
donald trump will be up early
he's awarded himself a military parade
at andrews air force base
and then the inauguration without donald
trump will take place
just a mark of how bitter relations have
become between the president and the
vice president
mike pence has decided that he will skip
the donald trump leaving do
but attend joe biden's inauguration
where once a sea of faces would greet
the incoming president
as he stood on the capitol steps
tomorrow
it will be flags thousands and thousands
of stars and stripes
this is partly about covid but even more
so now
about security the entire national mall
which stretches for two miles has been
closed off
washington dc has been transformed into
a fortress
with 25 000 national guardsmen drafted
in
razor wire and fencing everywhere now
nearly two weeks on
from the storming of congress by a mob
incited by donald trump
we fight like hell and if you don't
fight like hell you're not going to have
a country anymore
the shock in america over that attempt
to overthrow a fair and free election
seems to deepen with each passing day
not dissipate
and washington has become a city on edge
the last time the president was seen in
public was a week ago when he went to
the border wall
something he'd point to as one of his
achievements from the four years in
office
but it will be his behavior since the
election that will be his lasting legacy
the most audacious and unexpected
foreign policy move
came when donald trump flew to singapore
to meet his north korean counterpart kim
jong-un
the meeting defused tensions but has
done nothing to slow north korea's
nuclear programme
here donald trump's election plans were
upended by the covid outbreak
and the damage it did to the u.s economy
coronavirus didn't cost him the election
but his erratic handling of it
and occasionally bizarre statements
didn't help him and then i see the
disinfectant
where it knocks it out in a minute one
minute
and is there a way we can do something
like that
by injection and just a little later
america was confused by the death of
george floyd
at the hands of a white policeman amid
the protests in writing donald trump saw
an opportunity to present himself as the
tough president
of law and order tonight he's issued a
farewell video
this week we inaugurate a new
administration
and pray for its success in keeping
america safe
and prosperous but there's still no
concession that he lost
and now impeach twice it will be what's
happened in america since the
presidential election
that donald trump will likely be
remembered for he still faces a tricky
senate trial
with the influential republican leader
once a firm supporter
piling in the mob was fed lies
they were provoked by the president and
other
powerful people but from tomorrow the
focus will be on joe biden today leaving
wilmington delaware for the last time
before he's sworn in well
excuse the emotion but
when i die delaware written on my heart
there'll be a flurry of announcements
and actions in his first days in office
but perhaps the overriding goal will be
to lower the political
temperature and bring a fractured nation
together
it'll be a herculean task
and today in donald trump's final day in
office
the grim death toll from coronavirus
past 400
000 it's going to be one of the biggest
challenges that joe biden faces when he
takes over to improve the rollout of
vaccines
to get more people to wear masks as our
correspondent nick bryant reports and i
should say his report does contain
flashing images
we normally associate new york with the
self-confidence of america
but the coronavirus crisis has shown us
the frailties of the world's most
powerful land
in the final weeks of the trump
presidency there have been days where
more than 4 000 americans have died
a higher death toll than on september
the 11th
it's bizarre it's scary it's frightening
angelina lost her father
they're not in the same reality her
morning made more painful by family
members who refused to believe the
coronavirus took his life
she's angry at donald trump for
spreading misinformation
and downplaying the pandemic furious
angry
confused disconnected
abandoned those are all ways to describe
how i feel
there are 350 000 plus people have died
and it doesn't seem like any of those
people matter i mean it's insane
we've seen cues for cover testing we've
seen cues for covert aid but there's
hope at the end of this line of medical
staff and teachers
a school gym that only weeks ago served
as a polling station
has now become a vaccine hub
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much to the relief of new yorkers such
as michelle kleinbaum
a teacher on the educational front lines
i've been working in person pretty much
since the beginning
and it just feels like a weight's been
lifted off my shoulders that i can go
back now with a different peace of mind
joe biden has set the goal of 100
million doses in the first 100 days of
his presidency
and despite concerns about vaccine
supply here we witnessed a can-do spirit
that's so emphatically american
there's been so much despondency in this
city for the past 10 months but this is
really
the turning point i believe it will be
the turning point we're gonna get new
york city back up and running in no time
a little bit more spread out give
yourself six feet give yourself six feet
this isn't just a health crisis it's
been an economic catastrophe
and in the city that never sleeps we're
seeing
food banks now having to open 24 hours a
day
joe biden is promising an almost 2
trillion rescue package
the challenge is enormous the crisis is
huge
but america is strong
and i i believe and i'm hopeful that the
president could turn things around
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there'll be talk of a new day in america
but will the biden presidency really be
a panacea
the politics of this country are so
sickly the divisions are so deep
the coronavirus is revealed so many
american ailments nick brown bbc news
new york
and undoubtedly there will be a lot of
talk tomorrow about a new era
starting in america and of course that's
true to a certain extent there'll be a
new occupant
in the white house but the problems that
joe biden inherits don't just disappear
with the 46th president starting his
term
and you can tell that by the security
that we can see behind me that's had to
be put in place
following the bitterly contested
election the division
the 74 million people who voted for
donald trump who still may feel
that they need some convincing and i
think that is going to be the focus
of joe biden's inaugural address that
this is a time
of grave national peril for the united
states of america
and that it is time for the people to
come together
the words will be powerful but
delivering it
is going to be an uphill struggle that
will probably
determine the success or failure of the
biden era
hugh john we'll be back with you in
washington tomorrow thank you very much
sean soppel there our north america
editor