By: Theresa Mwawanga (theresamwawanga@gmail.com)
Thumbnail photo courtesy of ROBERTO SCHMIDT, AFP via Getty Images
A new dawn in the U.S.A set to start today as President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are set to be inaugurated in Washington DC.
78-year-old Joseph R Biden Jr will serve as the country’s 46th President alongside Vice President-elect, 56-year-old, Kamala Harris, who is the current Senator of California. Kamala Harris will become the first female Vice President and the first Black American and first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president in American history.
The inauguration was announced after a duly constitutional process was finalized by a joint session of Congress. The Democratic nominee will take over from the incumbent President, Donald Trump. President-elect Biden won with 306 electoral votes surpassing the 270-threshold.
Photo courtesy of OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
The incumbent republican President, Donald Trump, lost to Biden with 232 electoral college votes however is still settled on not conceding defeat. Security has been tightened in Washington DC ahead of the upcoming inauguration. This was consequently of horrors of chaos, that saw demonstrators taking over Capitol Hill, hindering confirmation of Biden’s electro college win by Congress, for a while. In the speech he gave after scooping the presidential victory, Biden assured Americans that his era will focus on uniting and not dividing states. Finding ways to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, building prosperity, improving family health care, root out systemic racism and ensure climate safety.
On Wednesday, Joe Biden signed an executive order in the Oval office, after taking an oath to be the 46th US President, ending the controversial Muslim travel ban that was introduced by his predecessor, Donald Trump. Biden proclaimed that the US “was built on a foundation of religious freedom and tolerance, a principle enshrined” in the US constitution.
“Our national security will be enhanced by revoking the Executive Order and Proclamations,” said Biden before requesting all American embassies and consulates to act accordingly with the end of the Travel Ban.