▪︎Trump says ‘we will be back in some form’, before boarding Air Force One to Florida
Donald Trump wanted a hero’s send off Wednesday and the ceremony arranged for him at an Air Force Base outside Washington looked just like one. But one thing was missing: the big crowd he loves.
With less than four hours left before Joe Biden took over, Trump had to rush to make his exit from the White House to Florida before losing the trappings of the presidency.
So after an 8:18am departure on Marine One from the South Lawn, he landed at Joint Base Andrews alongside the gleaming presidential Boeing 747 – Air Force One.
An Air Force band played Hail to the Chief. And black army field guns fired off a 21 gun salute.
But for all the military precision the one thing Trump loves most of all – enormous, adoring crowds chanting “We love Trump!” – was missing.
Trump’s family and about 500 fans turned out in the icy wind, standing in a fenced off area in front of the stage. Half of the section remained glaringly empty
“We have the greatest country in the world,” Trump said in a short address that sounded a lot like his campaign speeches, except that it was now a goodbye.
“It was my greatest honour and privilege to be your president,” he said. “Have a good life.”
Ignore the small crowd and the occasion might have resembled something honouring a leader at the height of his powers, not a defeated one-term president with the unique distinction of facing an impeachment trial after he’s gone.