10 things you need to know today: January 20, 2021

Biden to be sworn in under tight security, U.S. coronavirus deaths surpass 400,000, and more 

The Capitol building
(Image credit: Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images)

1. Biden to take office as nation faces multiple crises

President-elect Joe Biden left Delaware and traveled to Washington, D.C., on Tuesday ahead of his inauguration on Wednesday as the nation's 46th president. Biden delivered an emotional farewell to his home state of Delaware before heading to the nation's capital. Biden and his vice president, Kamala Harris, will be sworn in under tight security at noon in front of the U.S. Capitol, where a mob of Trump supporters rioted two weeks ago in a failed attempt to reverse Biden's election victory. Biden will take office at a time of deep political division and a deadly pandemic that has disrupted Americans' lives. "Biden will face a series of urgent, burning crises like we have not seen before," said presidential historian Michael Beschloss, "and they all have to be solved at once."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.