Prior to their historic homecoming, Biden and Trump will meet at the White House

Wednesday will see a meeting between President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump at the White House. Trump has promised a smooth handover of power to Biden, the Republican he defeated in the 2016 race. With his incredible re-election on November 5, Trump—who never accepted defeat in 2020—sealed a ten-year reign of extreme right-wing ideology in US politics.

Following his baseless accusations of election fraud that led to the ruckus in the Capitol on January 6, Trump declined to extend an invitation to Biden for the traditional meeting of the departing and new presidents. The president also broke with tradition by not attending Vice President Biden's inauguration on January 20, 2021; however, the White House has confirmed that Trump will attend the event. As time runs out before the former president's return to office, the White House announced on Saturday that the meeting between the Democrat and Trump will be held in the Oval Office.

Biden will become the second sitting US president to give over the reins of power to his predecessor in January, joining the exclusive club that dates back to the 19th century when Benjamin Harrison did the same. Despite a criminal conviction, two impeachments while in office, and warnings from his former chief of staff that he is a "fascist," the 78-year-old former reality TV star won by bigger majorities than previously. According to exit polls, the economy and inflation, which surged under Biden's presidency due to the COVID pandemic, continue to be voters' primary worries.

On Wednesday, Biden contacted Trump to offer his congratulations following his election victory. Biden had previously decided to withdraw from the campaign in July due to health concerns. The Democrats have been trying to assign blame for Harris's crushing defeat, and Joe Biden has taken a heavy beating. "If the president had stepped down earlier, there might have been other contenders in the race," said Nancy Pelosi, a former speaker of the House, in an interview with The New York Times. The president's quick endorsement of Kamala Harris made a primary very impossible to hold at the moment.

It would have been different if it had been much earlier," Pelosi continued. Pelosi is said to have played a crucial role in convincing Biden to resign down. As the Democrats try to figure out what went wrong, Trump has started to put together his second administration by making Susie Wiles, his campaign manager, chief of staff at the White House. As the first appointee to the Republican's forthcoming administration, she makes history as the first woman to hold the prominent position. In light of the substantial changes that Trump 2.0 is expected to bring about, the other leading candidates for positions in the administration reflect this.

Trump has promised Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a "big role" in health care; Kennedy is a prominent anti-vaccine activist. On Wednesday, Kennedy told NBC News, "I'm not going to take away anybody's vaccines." After the right-wing CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, and X wholeheartedly supported Trump, the world's wealthiest billionaire, Elon Musk, may soon be in line for a position auditing government waste. Many of Biden's campaign promises are likely to be withdrawn by Trump. With his campaign promise to "drill, baby, drill" for oil, he is prepared to dismantle Biden's environmental initiatives when he assumes the presidency as a climate change skeptic. Steve Witkoff, a close ally of Trump's, and Kelly Loeffler, an ex-senator, will head the inauguration committee that the president-elect announced on Saturday.