Biden urges unity in inaugural speech: 'Politics doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path'

(Image credit: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool)

published 20 January 2021

President Biden returned to a recurring theme Wednesday after he was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, calling for unity in his inaugural address.

"Let's start afresh," Biden said. "Let's begin to listen to one another again. Hear one another. See one another. Show respect to one another."

He then added that politics "doesn't have to be a raging fire destroying everything in its path" and that while he understands many Americans "view the future with fear and trepidation," the "answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions ... We must end this uncivil war that pits red against blue, rural versus urban, conservative versus liberal. We can do this if we open our souls instead of hardening our hearts." Tim O'Donnell

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.