What Went Down During Joe Biden’s Inauguration

Weeks before President Trump’s inauguration in 2017, there was a question of how swiftly Trump would move to overturn executive actions implemented by Obama, given that Trump had campaigned on undoing much of his predecessor’s legacy. And while Trump did end up revoking a number of consequential Obama actions, like withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change and withdrawing the U.S. from a nuclear agreement with Iran, undoing an outgoing president’s executive actions is not a given — even when the incoming president is from the other party.

One reason is because executive actions typically expand the scope of executive branch influence, and an incoming president often wants to preserve that influence. After all, he is now the head of that branch. That said, there is little question whether Biden will undo a host of Trump’s executive actions, including the travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries and a recent order that would lift travel restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

So the big question this time around is not whether Biden will undo many of Trump’s executive actions, but how easy undoing some of his actions will be. And undoing some of Trump’s executive actions could be quite difficult. For instance, the Trump administration changed the naturalization exam with an executive memo, making the citizenship test longer and more difficult. But the changes to the exam already went into effect last month. Undoing something like this will be far more laborious than simply reversing the action.

All told, undoing some of Trump’s most consequential executive actions will require a lot more work from Biden than just signing his name.

Well, this has all gone off without a hitch so far. And I have to say I’m pleased, because I’m sure I wasn’t the only person who was worried about that after Jan. 6.

In addition to the inauguration of a new president, today is also the day Georgia’s newest senators, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, get sworn in. So today is also the day Democrats officially take control of the Senate.