PRESIDENT Joe Biden took command of the US on Wednesday, vowing to save the union from the threats of a pandemic and Trumpism.
The new president cast the inauguration itself as a restoration, a restoration of American democracy after its violation on Jan 6. He reclaimed the Capitol as "sacred ground" only two weeks after a "riotous mob thought they could use violence to silence the voice of the people".
"This is a celebration... not of a candidate, but of a cause, the cause of democracy," Mr Biden said.
He never mentioned Donald Trump by name, but pointedly thanked the other ex-presidents who observed decades of protocol by showing up at the inauguration. And the new president repeatedly condemned...