WASHINGTON | “Democracy won,” said newly invested US President Joe Biden in his inaugural address Wednesday, hailing a day of “hope” for America.
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“The will of the people has been heard and the will of the people has been respected,” he said a few minutes after taking the oath to become the 46th President of the United States.
Joe Biden also called America for “unity” during his 21-minute address, and vowed to be the president of all Americans.
In a warning against the arrival of “the hardest and the deadliest phase” of the pandemic, the new president called on Americans to put aside their differences to face this “dark winter”.
“We will get by together”, he assured, before observing a minute of silence in tribute to the 400,000 “mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, friends, neighbors and colleagues” killed by the COVID-19.
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The new president further urged Americans to reject manipulation of facts, in a reference to his predecessor Donald Trump, who for weeks denied the outcome of the presidential election and popularized the phrase “fake news”.
“Not all disagreements should lead to all-out war. And we must reject the culture where the facts themselves are manipulated, and even invented, ”he said.
“There is the truth and there are the lies, the lies spoken for power and for profit. And each of us has a duty and a responsibility, as citizens, as Americans, and especially as leaders (…) to stand up for the truth and to fight lies, ”he added. .
Joe Biden also promised to “defeat” “white supremacism” and “domestic terrorism”, two weeks after the violence on Capitol Hill.
“Today we are seeing the emergence of political extremism, white supremacism and domestic terrorism,” he noted. “We have to face them and we will defeat them,” he said.
“A new day is dawning in America,” tweeted shortly before the man who became the oldest president at 78 when he began his term.