HAIL TO THE CHIEF – THE 46TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES IS JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR

With electoral votes of 273 to his opponent President Donald Trump’s 214, Joe Biden this evening became the 46^th President of the United States of America. He needed 270 but is projected to get up to 284 when all votes are counted.

Many people from all over the world would probably be heaving a sigh of relief because the uncertainty has lasted more than the normal for a US election.

All indications show that Biden’s electoral votes will still go higher because some votes are still being tallied but there is no way Trump can catch up with the remaining votes, even if he wins them all. Biden’s win also provide some firsts – the Vice President-elect Kamala Harris is the first woman to be elected to that position. She is also the first black woman to become Vice President. Biden is also, at almost 78, the oldest man to be elected President. His victory also provided the highest number of votes – about 75 million – for the winner of a presidential election.

The full news is still breaking and Trump will definitely still go on with his legal challenges, with him and his supporters still shouting ‘fraud, fraud, fraud’ but these calls are mostly regarded as uncalled for.

Donald Trump will not be the first US president to serve one term of 4 years; recent one-termers include Jimmy Carter of the Democratic Party from 1977 to 1981 and Republican George H. W. Bush, 1989 to 1993. In fact, quite a lot of US presidents served only one term so Trump is in good company and his supporters should not feel too bad or hard done by as there is life after the presidency.

Of the 45 men who have held office, ten presidents have failed to win re-election for a second term, when they have attempted to. One president, John F. Kennedy, was assassinated before he could run for re-election.

Having lost this election, Trump could serve a second single term if elected in 2024 if he were so interested. If Trump did attempt a comeback, he would not be the first US president to do so, with President Grover Cleveland making a successful second election bid in 1892. Cleveland became the 22^nd president of the US in 1884, but was defeated in his re-election bid against Republican rival Benjamin Harrison. In 1892, Cleveland made a comeback, however, becoming the 24th president as well. So there is still hope for Trump in 2024. 2020 US presidential election is done and dusted!

He could follow the route of the four living presidents – Jimmy Carter, George Bush Jr, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have been up and about, with Jimmy Carter, in spite of his age, involved in several international health initiatives in Africa, particularly the fight against guinea worm. Obama and Clinton are regular on speaking tours.

Between now and 20^th January when Biden and Harris will be inaugurated, Trump will need to pack his bags and skulk back to Mar-a-Lago, his Palm Beach club with the 128-room mansion in Palm Beach he purchased in 1985 and turned it into a private club 10 years later. The house he now he calls the “Winter White House.”

Joe Biden, like all president of the United States before now, will from next January become the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a 4-year term through the Electoral College. He will lead the executive branch of the federal government and be the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

Since the office was established in 1789, 44 men have served as president. The first, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms in office (the only president to have done so) and is therefore counted as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States; Donald Trump is the 45^th and current president is since January 20, 2017.

In US history, Franklin D. Roosevelt served as the longest president, over twelve years, before dying early in his fourth term in 1945. He is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. Since the ratification of the Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1951, no person may be elected president more than twice, and no one who has served more than two years of a term to which someone else was elected may be elected more than once.

Joseph R. Biden served as Vice-President to President Barack Obama, the 44th president from 2009 to 2017, and with his win today as president, joins the following as the 46^th President of the United States of America. Those who served a single term, like Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump, are in bold letters.

1. George Washington (1789–1797)
2. John Adams (1797–1801)
3. Thomas Jefferson (1801–1809)
4. James Madison (1809–1817)
5. James Monroe (1817–1825)
6. John Quincy Adams (1825–1829)
7. Andrew Jackson (1829–1837)
8. Martin Van Buren (1837–1841)
9. William Henry Harrison (1841)
10. John Tyler (1841–1845)
11. James K. Polk (1845–1849)
12. Zachary Taylor (1849–1850)
13. Millard Fillmore (1850–1853)
14. Franklin Pierce (1853–1857)
15. James Buchanan (1857–1861)
16. Abraham Lincoln (1861–1865)
17. Andrew Johnson (1865–1869)
18. Ulysses S. Grant (1869–1877)
19. Rutherford B. Hayes (1877–1881)
20. James A. Garfield (March – Sept. 1881) Assassinated.
21. Chester A. Arthur (1881–1885)
22. Grover Cleveland (1885–1889
23. Benjamin Harrison (1889–1893)
24. Grover Cleveland (1893–1897)
25. William McKinley (1897–1901)
26. Theodore Roosevelt (1901–1909)
27. William Howard Taft (1909–1913)
28. Woodrow Wilson (1913–1921)
29. Warren G. Harding (1921–1923)
30. Calvin Coolidge (1923–1929)
31. Herbert Hoover (1929–1933)
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945)
33. Harry S. Truman (1945–1953)
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961)
35. John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) Assassinated.
36. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963–1969)
37. Richard Nixon (1969–1974)
38. Gerald Ford (1974–1977)
39. Jimmy Carter (1977–1981)
40. Ronald Reagan (1981–1989)
41. George H. W. Bush (1989–1993)
42. Bill Clinton (1993–2001)
43. George W. Bush (2001–2009)
44. Barack Obama (2009–2017)
45. Donald Trump (2017–2021) present.

Welcome to Joseph R. Biden Jr as the 46^th President of the United States of America.

HAIL TO THE CHIEF!

IMAGE AND VIDEO CREDIT: Sky News, YouTube

Epa Ogie Eboigbe, veteran journalist, broadcaster and public affairs specialist writes on, and analyses current and historical issues with a ‘wise pen’.