Fading Away

Barack Obama’s strange last days in the White House.

- Matthew Cooper

WEIRD THOUGH it has been, the transition from Barack Obama to Donald Trump won’t go down as the most bizarre presidential handoff. The American nation basically dissolved between Abraham Lincoln’s election in November 1860 and when he was inaugurated in March 1861 because of his determination to resist slavery’s expansion. Seven states seceded from the union before Lincoln was sworn in, and the future emancipator had to travel to Washington for his inauguration in disguise, fearing an assassination attempt.

The Depression got worse while Franklin Roosevelt waited until March 1933 to be sworn in, which is one reason why the inaugural date for every president since was moved up to January. In 1980, the Iranian hostage crisis consumed Jimmy Carter’s last hours in office, and in 2000, much of the transition between Bill Clinton and George W. Bush was in limbo while Al Gore and the Texas governor fought over the Florida recount that determined who had won the election.

The Trump-Obama transition isn’t nearly so tumultuous. Instead, it’s more bizarre than calamitous. We’ve seen the Twittering mogul’s imprimatur—jabs at The New York Times and Kim Jong Un; Trump’s credulous belief in Julian Assange and Vladimir Putin and his steady displays of disdain for America’s intelligence professionals; victory rallies long after the victory was complete; and appointees that ranged from competent (Robert Lighthizer for trade representative) to the bizarre (Dr. Ben Carson for secretary of housing and urban development, even though he knows little about either).