Washington (AFP)
How to heal the wounds of an America on edge?
At the opening of a historic week, Camp Biden unveiled its roadmap to get the United States out of its economic, social and health crises, without being too slowed down by the impeachment procedure for Donald Trump.
Soldiers on every street corner, barbed wire and imposing fences ... Joe Biden will be invested Wednesday in an unrecognizable capital, transformed into an entrenched camp, after the murderous assault on the Capitol on January 6.
Pro-Trump protests, planned outside official buildings in each state, started off calmly with only small groups of armed protesters gathered in states like Ohio, Texas, Oregon and Michigan, US media reported on Sunday. .
- "Huge mess" to repair -
"The past few weeks have shown how damaged America's soul is and how important it is to restore it: this work begins Wednesday," President Biden's future chief of staff Ron Klain told CNN on Sunday. .
"We are inheriting a huge mess, but we have a plan to fix it," he pledged.
From the first day of his mandate, Joe Biden intends to re-engage the United States in the Paris climate agreement and lift the ban on entry into the United States targeting nationals of several countries, mainly majority muslim.
The 46th President of the United States also hopes to give new impetus to the biggest vaccination campaign in American history.
There is an emergency: on average, since January 1, more than 3,000 people have died from Covid-19 every day in the United States, and more than 236,000 daily cases have been detected.
A hecatomb that did not slow down, far from it, the hiccuping start of the vaccination campaign.
The former vice-president of Obama wants 100 million doses to be injected during his first 100 days in office, thanks to large vaccination centers.
"It is doable," judges the well-respected Anthony Fauci, who will become Joe Biden's main advisor on Covid-19 after being that of Donald Trump.
Some 100,000 caregivers will be mobilized.
- "Most serious" crime -
Joe Biden, a veteran of politics, will initially be forced to govern by decree, in order to avoid going through Congress and in particular the Senate, occupied by the impeachment procedure of Donald Trump.
Whole sections of its program, such as its titanic economic stimulus plan of 1.9 trillion dollars, supposed to help the millions of Americans who today live on unemployment benefits, must however be submitted for the approval of American elected officials.
He will also have to respect the parliamentary calendar to confirm the members of his government, each subject to a vote by the Senate.
The impeachment trial of his predecessor Donald Trump could open just a few hours after Joe Biden takes office.
The Democrats accuse the Republican billionaire of having "incited to insurrection" of his supporters against the Capitol on January 6, an assault which left 5 dead.
Donald Trump committed "the most serious presidential crime in American history," said Jamie Raskin, one of the elected officials behind this procedure, on Sunday.
The Trump camp sees this trial as "a shameful attack on the American Constitution and democracy".
His team said in a statement that they have not yet chosen a lawyer to represent him.
Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, close to the outgoing president, urged Senate Democratic leaders to reject this procedure, once in the Senate.
Otherwise, he promises in a letter on Sunday, "we will indefinitely, if ever, delay the healing of this great nation."
Donald Trump has already announced that he will ignore the swearing-in of his successor.
He will fly off Wednesday at dawn to his luxury resort in Florida.
In the meantime, the White House assures him: he continues "to work tirelessly for the Americans", and his days include "a lot of meetings and a lot of phone calls".
"It will be an inaugural ceremony like no other, in large part due to Covid-19," Vice President-elect Kamala Harris said in an interview broadcast on CBS Sunday.
"But we're going to be sworn in. And we're going to do the job we were hired to do."
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