https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9167707/Americas-new-dawn-White-House-darkness-aside-Residence-Trump-moves-out.html
Meanwhile in MAGA land...Trump arrives at Mar-a-Lago with Melania (who's Florida-ready in a a Gucci kaftan) after leaving Biden a 'personal' note at the White House and vowing we haven't seen the last of him in his final speech as President
- President Trump left the White House with the First Lady at 8.12am, boarding Marine One for the last time
- He stopped briefly to speak to reporters, saying it had been the 'honor of a lifetime' to serve as President
- At Joint Base Andrews, he told a crowd of reporters that he would be back 'in some form'
- Before flying off on Air Force One, he told everyone present: 'Have a good life'
- Frank Sinatra's 'My Way' - which played at his inaugural ball in 2017 - played as Air Force One lifted off
- Trump is the first president since 1869 to snub his successor's inauguration
- In his final act, he granted clemency to 72 people including Steve Bannon and rapper Lil Wayne
- Trump's unorthodox departure has caused a security nightmare - he is taking with him what is known as the nuclear 'football' which contains the nuclear codes
- It had to be rushed back to Washington from Florida by the military before Biden was sworn in
- While Trump refused to mention Biden, officials say he did leave a letter for him in the Oval Office
- Sources say it was 'personal' and wished for 'success in the US'
By EMILY GOODIN, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER and NIKKI SCHWAB, SENIOR U.S. POLITICAL REPORTER AT THE WHITE HOUSE and JENNIFER SMITH FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 12:40, 20 January 2021 | UPDATED: 20:39, 20 January 2021
Melania Trump hung up her First Lady heels at the first opportunity on Wednesday by changing into a comfortable and colorful kaftan and some flat shoes before emerging from Air Force One at Mar-a-Lago to settle into her new Floridian life.
She and former President Trump were both in high spirits as they left the aircraft before getting into waiting cars to be driven to their home along with the rest of the family.
It was a much brighter and lighter scene than their final appearance in Washington, where Trump said: 'We will be back in some form' and told fans to 'have a good life' before boarding Air Force One while Joe Biden was waiting to be inaugurated.
The Trumps are the first President and First Lady to snub his successor's inauguration since the 1800s. While they landed in Florida, the Obamas, Bushes and Clintons watched in awe as Jennifer Lopez and Lady Gaga serenaded a crowd of 1,000 at the Capitol before Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in.
In his first address as President, Biden promised to serve 'all Americans' and called for an end to the 'civil war' that is dividing the country.
Before emerging from Air Force One, Melania, who wore a black Chanel suit and $70,000 Hermes bag with a pair of towering Christian Louboutin heels in the morning, had changed into a more comfortable and colorful $3,700 Gucci dress and a pair of $550 Roger Vivier flat pumps.
Donald and Melania Trump arrive in Florida on Air Force One after leaving Washington DC while Joe Biden was inaugurated on Wednesday
Melania swapped out of her Christian Louboutin heels into a pair of navy flat pumps to make her way to the couple's home
The couple did not hold hands like they did in Washington but they both appeared to be in high spirits as they arrived in Florida
Outgoing US President Donald Trump waves to supporters lined along on the route to his Mar-a-Lago estate on January 20, 2021 in West Palm Beach, Florida
Trump waves to supporters lined along on the route to his Mar-a-Lago estate on January 20, 2021 in West Palm Beach, Florida
Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle leave Air Force One with Lara and Eric Trump behind them
Supporters of President Donald Trump cheer for the president in his final moments as POTUS. Supporters gathered along the path to Trump's Mar a Lago club on Palm Beach
A detail of a car decorated in outgoing US President Donald Trump as his supporters await his return to Florida along the route leading to his Mar-a-Lago estate on January 20, 2021 in West Palm Beach, Florida
Supporters of President Donald Trump, Jennifer Aiello, left, Ron Raven dance as they wait for the motorcade on the road to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach estate, on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021
Supporters of President Donald Trump wave as they wait for the motorcade on the road to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach estate, on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021
A supporter of President Donald Trump waits for the motorcade on the road to Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach estate, on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021, in West Palm Beach
The farewell at Andrews resembled one of Trump’s infamous campaign rallies, ending with ‘YMCA’ – the song Trump would depart to – as supporters cheered ‘USA, USA, USA.’
My Way, which Trump and Melania danced to at his 2017 inaugural ball, played as Air Force One took off.
The president paused at times in his remarks. While he did not show tears, he appeared to feel the weight of the occasion while taking time to enjoy the final moments of his time in office. He notably did not mention the name of incoming President Joe Biden.
‘Hail to Chief’ played as Trump and Melania - who was wearing a Chanel jacket, sunglasses and carrying a $70,000 black crocodile Hermes Birkin bag - walked from Marine One to the platform where the president addressed the crowd.
‘We love you,’ the supporters yelled as Trump took the stage after arriving while his children watched proudly.
‘We accomplished a lot,’ Trump said. ‘We worked hard. We left it all - as the athletes would say - we left it in the field.’
People take selfies and photos with Air Force One in the background at Palm Beach Airport before it departs for DC again
Air Force One promptly flew back to Washington after delivering the Trumps on Wednesday. The nuclear 'football' was on board and being guarded by the military
He left behind a last-minute flurry of pardons, including to Steve Bannon, the indicted one-time White House Svengali, Trump-backing rapper Lil’ Wayne and a convicted stalker friend of his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Also left on the field was a shattered Republican Party, whose top ranks are torn apart by his second impeachment. In the dying days of his presidency, Trump floated starting his own ‘Patriot Party’ from his Mar-a-Lago home.
He told his supporters, who he hopes to harness as a power force in future elections, that he will be there for them.
‘I will always fight for you. I will be watching, I will be listening and I will tell you the future of the country has never been better. I wish the new administration great luck and great success. They have the foundation to do something really spectacular and in a position like it has never been,’ he said.
He has reportedly discussed forming another party, known as the Patriot Party, to continue his political career.
Melania Trump, wearing black, briefly addressed the crowd. She wore a Chanel, military-style jacket and had her hair pinned up for her final appearance as first lady.
‘Being first lady was my greatest honor. Thank you for your support. You will be my thoughts and prayers, god bless you all, god bless the family and god bless this beautiful nation,’ she said.
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive at Joint Base Andrews on Wednesday morning. The pair held hands as they made their way to a stage to deliver their final remarks as President and First Lady
First lady Melania Trump watches as U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, U.S., January 20, 2021
Trump gives his farewell speech at Andrews Air Force Base in the last hours of his Presidency. He said it had been an 'honor and a privilege'
Trump's full address from Joint Base Andrews farewell ceremony
Read Donald Trump's full farewell speech at Andrews Air Force Base
DONALD TRUMP: Thank you, thank you very much. Thank you very much, and we love you and I can tell you that from the bottom of my heart.
This has been an incredible four years, we’ve accomplished so much together. I want to thank all of my family and my friends and my staff and so many other people for being here. I want to thank you for your effort, your hard work. People have no idea how hard this family worked, and they worked for you. They could have had a much easier life. But they just – they did a fantastic job. I just want to thank all of you – every one. I want to thank Mark Meadows who’s here someplace, right there, I want to thank Mark. But it’s been something very special.
We’ve accomplished a lot. Our first lady has been a woman of great grace and beauty and dignity. And so popular with the people, so popular with the people. In fact, honey, would you like to say a few words, please?
FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP: Being first lady was my greatest honor. Thank you for your love and your support. You will be in my thoughts and prayers. God bless you all, God bless the family and God bless this beautiful nation. Thank you.
DONALD TRUMP: What else has to be said, right? But what we’ve done – iit’s true, honey, great job – what we’ve done has been amazing by any standard. We rebuilt the United States military. We created a new force called Space Force – that in itself would be a major achievement for a regular administration. We were not a regular administration. We took care of the vets, 91 per cent approval rating, they’ve never had that before. The vets have given us – the VA – the vets have given us an approval rating like has never been before. We took care of our vets, and our beautiful vets, they were very badly treated before we came along. And, as you know, we get them great service and we pick up the bill and they could go out and see a doctor if they have to wait long period of time. We got it so that we can, sadly, get rid of people that don't treat our vets properly. We didn't have any of those rights before when I came on. So our vets are happy, our people are happy, our military is thrilled.
We also got tax cuts, the largest tax cut and reform in the history of our country, by far. I hope they don't raise your taxes. But, if they do, I told you so.
And if you look at the regulations, which I consider the regulation cuts to be maybe even more important, that’s why we have such good and have had such good job numbers. The job numbers have been absolutely incredible. When we started, had we not been hit by the pandemic, we would have had numbers that would have never been seen – already, our numbers are the best ever. If you look at what happened until February a year ago. Our numbers were at a level nobody had seen before. And even now, we really built it twice. We got hit, nobody blames us for us, the whole world got hit and then we built it again. And now the stock market is actually substantially higher than it was at its higher point prior to the pandemic. So it’s really, you can say we built it twice.
You’re going to see incredible numbers start coming in if everything is sort of left alone. Be careful, very complex, be careful. But you’re going to see some incredible things happening and remember us when you see these things happening, if you would. Remember us because I’m looking at elements of our economy that are set to be a rocketship up– it’s a rocketship up.
We have the greatest country in the world, we have the greatest economy in the world. And as bad as the pandemic was, we were hit so hard, just like the entire world was hit so hard, places that thought they got away with it, didn't get away with it – they’re suffering right now. We did something that is really considered a medical miracle, they are calling it a miracle, and that was the vaccine. We got the vaccine developed in nine months instead of nine years or five years or 10 years or a long time. It was supposed to take a long time, many, many years to develop a vaccine. We have two out, we have another one coming almost immediately. And it really is a great achievement. So you should start to see really good numbers over the next few months. I think you’re going to see those numbers really skyrocket downward.
I can only say this: we have worked hard. We’ve left it all – as the athletes would say – ‘we’ve left it in the field.’ We don’t have to come and say – we’ll never say in a month when we’re sitting in Florida, we're not going to be looking at each other and saying, ‘You know if we only worked a little but harder.’ You can’t work harder. And we had a lot of obstacles, and we went through the obstacles. And we just got 75 million votes and that’s a record in the history of sitting presidents. It’s an all-time record by a lot – by many millions in the history of sitting president, it’s been, really, just an honor.
One of the things we’re very, very proud of is the selection of almost 300 federal judges and three great Supreme Court justices. That’s a very big number, that’s a record setting number. And so, we’ve done a lot, and there’s still things to do.
The first thing we have to do is pay our respects and our love to the incredible people and families who suffered so gravely from the China virus. It’s a horrible thing that was put onto the world. We all know where it came from, but it is a horrible, horrible thing. So be very careful, be very, very careful. But, we want to pay great love, great love to all the people that are suffering – including families who have suffered so gravely.
So with that I just want to say you are amazing people, this is a great, great country. It is my greatest honor and privilege to have been your president.
I will always fight for you. I will be watching, I will be listening and I will tell you that the future of this country has never been better. I wish the new administration great luck and great success. I think they’ll have great success. They have the foundation to do something really spectacular. And again, we put it in a position like it’s never been before despite the worst plague to hit since, I guess you would say 1917, over 100 years ago. And despite that – despite that, the things that we’ve done have been just incredible. And I couldn't have done it without you.
So just a goodbye, we love you, we will be back in some form.
And again, I want to just, in leaving, thank our Vice President Mike pence and Karen. I want to thank Congress because we really worked well with Congress - at least certain elements of Congress. But we really did, we’ve gotten so much done that nobody thought would be possible – but I do want to thank Congress. And I want to thank all of the great people of Washington, D.C., all of the people that we worked with to put this miracle together.
So, have a good life, we will see you soon. Thank you, thank you very much.
Melania Trump and Donald Trump wave to their supporters as they board Air Force One for the last time on Wednesday
US First Lady Melania Trump speaks before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on January 20, 2021
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump greet the crowd before boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021
With Air Force One in the background, Donald and Melania Trump smile and wave to their family and supporters while music plays in the background. 'My Way', which is what played at Trump's inaugural ball in 2017, played as the plane took off
So long! Trump and Melania wave goodbye as they board Air Force One on Wednesday for the last time
Trump arrives at Joint Base Andrews to 21-gun salute
