The grand reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Saturday was expected to be attended by about 50 heads of state and government. Joe Biden was not there to admire the stunning splendor of the 850-year-old place of worship. But Donald Trump does.
The reversal of roles nicely symbolizes how power flows from one man to another. Biden, now a lame duck, appears to be in decline both physically and politically, disappearing from the American national scene and tarnishing his legacy with pardons for his errant son.
However, Trump has dominated Washington’s agenda for more than forty days before he takes the oath of office. He has attracted attention with inflammatory cabinet selections and policy statements. He has started flexing his muscles in front of world leaders. For many Americans it feels as if he is already president again.
“Biden’s presidency is ending with a series of whimper rather than a bang, and it feels like he’s shrinking into irrelevance while Trump stands up for himself,” said Charlie Sykes, a conservative writer and broadcaster. “If you’re a foreign leader, you might talk to Biden out of politeness, but you’re going to listen to Trump out of naked self-interest.”
Traditionally, in both practice and spirit, the US has had only one president at a time. But since defeating Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, in last month’s election, Trump has effectively set up a shadow presidency at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida club long called his “winter White House.”
He already maintains contacts with foreign leaders. His threat of 25% tariffs – taxes on foreign imports – prompted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to rush to Mar-a-Lago with the promise of tighter border security measures. Trump also said Mexico had agreed to close its border, a claim contradicted by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.
As in his first term, Trump can shape things and move markets with a single social media post. He sent shares of US Steel plummeting by writing on Truth Social that he would block the proposed takeover by Japan’s Nippon Steel.
Mike Waltz, Trump’s chosen national security adviser, has credited Trump with bringing Israel and Lebanon to the negotiating table, although some political analysts have said there is no evidence Trump had any direct involvement. The president-elect vowed that “all hell in the Middle East would have to pay” if Gaza hostages were not released before his inauguration.
Meanwhile, he’s taking advantage of the strong stock market, claiming it as a victory for his policies, and taking credit for the turnaround of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives at companies like Walmart.
On Monday, Trump’s transition team issued a press release headlined: “Promises kept – and President Trump hasn’t even been inaugurated yet.” It argued that Trump, who still has no official powers, is already securing the border, working toward international peace, boosting economic growth and dismantling “divisive, unchecked DEI.”
Critics point out that economic indicators – including the stock market – have long been moving in the right direction, while recent dramas in South Korea, Syria and Ukraine cast doubt on the idea that Trump’s ‘peace through strength’ mantra is already paying off . dividends.
Yet Trump and his team prove once again that they can sell a story that suits them. Reed Galen, president of JoinTheUnion.us, a pro-democracy coalition, said: “It is a combination of Trumpian bravado, further or final dismantling of all the processes we have taken for granted for too long and their instinctive and perhaps even unconscious ability to to vacuum a spot when they feel one.”
He added: “If Biden starts spending most of his time abroad and does very little to push back on these kinds of things, they will take all the ground that has been ceded to them. Call it Maga, call it the Republican Party of the 21st century – when they see an opportunity, they seize it.
“They don’t worry about the outcome. They don’t worry about the consequences. They don’t worry about someone saying, you can’t do that, you shouldn’t do that. They say, we’re going to do it and good luck trying to stop us. It obviously scared Trudeau so much that he started flying to Mar-a-Lago.”
In theory, Trump’s talks with world leaders could violate the Logan Act, a federal statute that bans unauthorized private diplomacy with foreign nations. But only one person has ever been charged with violating it – that was in 1803 and this resulted in no prosecution. Legal experts do not expect Trump to get into trouble with this now.
However, his actions represent a break from past norms. Elected presidents tend to maintain a respectful distance from the sitting president until it is their turn to occupy the White House. Franklin Roosevelt decisively declined an invitation from the man he defeated, Herbert Hoover, to join a concerted effort to pull the economy out of the Great Depression.
Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said, “I’m old enough to remember when elected presidents disappeared. I don’t think we saw Kennedy three times, except when we went to church in the late fall of 1960.
“Reagan made one public appearance after the election; they caught him going into a store for supplies or something. That’s what was expected. You didn’t interfere with your predecessor because he was still president.”
But the perception of Trump’s authority has been accelerated by Biden’s withering influence. This week, Biden became the first sitting US president to visit Angola and the first since Barack Obama to set foot in Africa in 2015. His speech received little attention and was viewed less than 2,000 times on the official White House YouTube channel.
Biden, 82, is also facing fierce criticism from fellow Democrats for pardoning his son Hunter for federal crimes after previously promising he would not do so. Some see it as a vote of no confidence in the justice system that Biden vowed to protect — and a gift to Trump in his continued efforts to undermine democratic institutions.
The Axios website reported: “A friend of Biden said the president seems older by the day — slower to walk, more hesitant to talk. For some Biden loyalists, his decline is a sad metaphor for his presidency: He started strong, but will end less well.”
In contrast, Trump, 78, is once again dominating headlines with a frenzy of round-the-clock social media posts and controversies. One cabinet pick had to withdraw due to allegations of sexual misconduct; another is reeling over claims he assaulted women and abused alcohol; a third raises major concerns among intelligence experts because of her willingness to believe conspiracy theories. The growing fame of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, also causes nerves.
For Washington, there is a sense that the circus is back in town – or perhaps never left. Sykes, author of How the Right Lost Its Mind, said: “It feels like a continuation of the last four years where Donald Trump, even though Joe Biden has been the president, has felt like he was a politically dominating force for so long .
“Unfortunately, when people look back on Biden’s presidency, they will comment on how low-key and low-key Biden was compared to the man he defeated. I’m not sure there’s a historical parallel for that. The Trump show has been going on for almost a decade and is sucking up all the oxygen.”
