By Jeff Mason and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – On the morning of January 20, hours before Joe Biden arrived at the White House as the 46th President of the United States, a clear plexiglass shield was affixed to the guard’s desk at the entrance to the West Wing, which houses the executive offices. .
It was a small but striking sign that things were changing: the protection of COVID-19 that was lacking during Donald Trump’s last year in office would be a regular part of White House life in Biden’s government.
From the required masquerade to a new public information approach, the Democrat’s steady hand-to-the-tiller style points to a sudden change in the bombast and volatility among Republican Trump, a businessman and former TV star.
“This is how normal it looks,” said John Bolton, a former Trump national security adviser and ambassador to the United Nations under George W. Bush, when asked about the Biden administration. “It is certainly true that if a president cannot run the White House, he cannot run the rest of it.”
A White House government strategy that was attacked by both political parties as chaotic has disappeared, replaced by message discipline and a tendency towards leaks.
New presidents usually benefit from a honeymoon period. Morning Consult Political Intelligence showed that 56 percent of voters approved of his performance during Biden’s first few days in office. But popularity can be fleeting.
DOGS AND DISCOUNTS ARE BACK
The changes in the White House are many, from the mundane to the profound. Dogs are back on the South Lawn. Regular media conferences, with follow-up questions and data-driven answers, returned to the information hall.
Praying itself has created unity and civilization overarching messages.
“We can treat each other with dignity and respect. We can join forces, stop the shouting and lower the temperature,” Biden said in his inaugural address. “For without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and anger; no progress, only exhausting indignation; no nation, only a state of chaos.”
Trump largely dominated the news cycle as a one-man show, regularly shaking topics wildly. The Biden team stuck to a specific theme almost every day, and Biden systematically signed executive orders to withdraw one Trump policy after another.
Trump’s Twitter account, a mainstay of his presidency with aggrieved and provocative messages on a daily if not hourly basis, was suspended in the wake of a January 6 riot by his supporters on the US Capitol.
Biden’s tweets are used to advance his policy goals and to occasionally make a light remark, such as when he clears up any confusion about his favorite ice cream flavor: “Can confirm it’s chocolate chip. ‘
WHITE HOUSE MASKS AND DIVERSITY
Biden’s approach to the coronavirus is one of the sharpest disorders of its predecessor. The new president has made combating the pandemic, which killed 430,000 people in the United States, a top priority.
Trump downplayed the pandemic in the early stages and regularly repelled masks. Most officials did not wear it around him either. The virus infected Trump and several members of his White House team.
Biden has a mandate to wear masking in government buildings.
At public events, he and other officials adhere to the public health guidelines for social distance. Many of his earlier signatures of executive orders were in the spacious State Dining Room, where there was ample space for attendees to spread out.
Biden has appointed to sign strict ethical promises that include a ban on accepting gifts from registered lobbyists or lobby organizations.
He also showcased diversity. Vice President Kamala Harris – the first woman, a black person and an Asian American to take on the role – is ready for event after event.
Although Biden has his share of white male advisers, other team members, from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the first woman and first black person to hold the roles, have a tableau of America projected in a way that Trump’s team does not.
Biden’s call to move beyond the polarizing Trump years will be tested as his legislative agenda resists Republicans on Capitol Hill and liberal liberals seeking to find bold reforms.
“In the short term, the temperature has dropped very clearly, and despite what we saw in the Capitol a few weeks ago, people are calming down,” said Republican strategist Doug Heye.
“If he moves forward, Biden is in a perfect position to cut the deals that Trump always said he could never do,” he said, adding, “that does not mean it will be easy. . ‘
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; Additional Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Heather Timmons and Howard Goller)
Originally published