Joe Biden is being inaugurated today as the 46th President of the United States; even before being sworn in, he has faced accusations of winning a rigged election, his predecessor Donald Trump’s refusal to concede defeat and begin the transfer of power, and an attempted coup d’etat. What will he face once he’s sworn in?

I understand Biden won’t be much different from previous Presidents of the United States–like them, he’ll uphold the status quo while maybe tossing the occasional stale crumb to marginalized citizens. And there are the small matters of the COVID-19 pandemic and the insurgence of neo-fascism in the United States…

All of which leads to the rhetorical question of whether Biden will clean up Trump’s messes, or just enough of them that he seems comparatively better than Trump…while making some of his own.

Why am I, as a Canadian, so interested in the swearing-in of a new President of the United States–especially if it’s going to be more of the same? Well, like it or not, U.S. politics has long influenced world politics, often in its own favour, and at other nations’ expense, and that of the majority of U.S. citizens. And Canada and the United States are on the same continent, ergo President Joe Biden will have to do business with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from time to time. I’m watching and waiting to see how that goes–for Canadian as well as U.S. citizens.