Will He or Won’t He?

President Donald Trump's refusal to say if he will attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden is just another "a willful abandonment of his job. This is not the first time Trump has failed to carry out Presidential responsibilities but fortunately for America it will be the last time.  On Inauguration Day, the outgoing president and first lady usually welcome the incoming president and first lady with a tea at the White House, an Oval Office meeting, and a shared ride from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue up to the Capitol for the ceremony. It is very questionable if any of those traditions happen with the Trump departure.  While it will cause no hardship for the Bidens, the White House staff and the "controlled chaos" that describes the stress of moving one first family out, while moving the other one in will probable suffer the most.  The frenzied process is further exacerbated by a disgruntled departing president and the pandemic.  "He's going to make this job a lot harder for about 95 resident staffers who move one president and the other out. And these are you know, these are ushers, butlers, housekeepers. It's kind of an all hands-on deck situation," Brower says. The White House will also have to undergo a deep-cleaning process which requires even more work and stress.  This stress will fall on the shoulders of a man most Americans have never heard of: the chief White House usher, Timothy Harleth.  "He was hired by the Trumps. He worked at Trump International Hotel. And if he is doing his job, he would be coordinating this move and that would be flat out going against his boss's wishes because he isn't conceding yet. So he's in an impossible situation and we've never seen this before."  What about the traditional letter that some outgoing presidents leave in the top drawer of the Resolute Desk with a patriotic message or a piece of advice from one occupant of the Oval Office to another? In 2016, President Barack Obama reminded Trump that they were both "guardians of those democratic institutions and traditions -- like rule of law, separation of powers, equal protection and civil liberties." "Even if he didn't show up to the inauguration ... he could leave a letter in the drawer of the resolute desk for Biden. God knows what it would say, but I think it would be fascinating."  While Americans are hoping the Biden Administration will restore a sense of normality to the White House and the job of the President, leave it to The Donald to try to leave a mark on the transition of power in Washington.  Whether he attends or doesn’t attend will not affect the future of the Presidency but will probably get a paragraph in the country’s history book and a page in the White house diary.