Political experts provide nuance to transition of power process
In the days leading up to the Monday, Jan. 20, inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, the process of transferring power between administrations is in full swing.
This process, which has been laid out through the Constitution and other supporting legislation, such as the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, has allowed control of the federal government’s executive branch change between people and parties for generations, and will once again culminate when Democratic President Joe Biden hands control back over to Trump.
The process is usually simple, having been practiced for hundreds of years, said Mustafa Rashed, a Democratic political consultant from Philadelphia — one of the experts from both sides of the aisle who spoke to the Butler Eagle earlier this month about the transition.
“It’s been done since the birth of the nation and prior to four years ago, it was a straightforward process,” Rashed said, noting the events leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021 amid the last transition of power between Trump and Biden.
According to Rashad, who is president and CEO of Bellevue Strategies, a consulting firm that primarily works with Philadelphia city officials, many steps in the transition process have undergone new levels of attention and scrutiny since then.
Lenny McAllister, a Pittsburgh native who has run for office as a Republican and now is a radio host on Newsradio KDKA, said that there is a hefty bureaucratic element to this transition process that ends with the new president’s inauguration.
“Sometimes, this is a very streamlined process, while at other times, it's obvious that philosophical differences will emerge based on who's leaving office and who’s coming into office,” McAllister said.
McAllister, who ran for Congress in 2016 in Pennsylvania’s 14th District, said it is the responsibility of both administrations to communicate and ensure a smooth process for all agencies operating under them.
“The public often overlooks the fact that there is this ongoing infusion of political loyalists and career bureaucrats that have to find a way to work together pretty quickly with the ramp up of a new administration, which may include a new set of goals or metrics to pursue,” McAllister said. “Without strong leadership running those processes, you can see why agencies or initiatives get off track at the beginning of a new presidential administration.”
According to the Center for Presidential Transition, the transition begins 12 months before the presidential election. At that point, the General Services Administration develops a transition directory with information on federal agencies and readies a report summarizing resources needed for the change.
Though the election is in November, it’s in May that the White House Transition Coordinating Council and Agency Transition Directors Council form.
Rashed said this occurs per the Presidential Transition Act of 1963, but then shifts into “really high gear” after the election.
“Between November and January you have your transition teams, your cabinet appointments, the president starts to build out his or her team for the next four years,” Rashed said.
The transition post-election includes a classified summary regarding national security for the president-elect “as soon as possible after the election,” the Center for Presidential Transition said.
Sometimes, once this process ramps up, friction occurs between the two administrations. This friction is worse during transitions from one political party to another, McAllister said.
“There is both an obligation to help the incoming administration, but also a tendency for the outgoing administration to try to protect their work over the last 4 to 8 years,” McAllister said.
Once states certify their votes, the process moves upward, culminating in the counting and certification of votes in a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. The process is presided over by the vice president.
Rashed felt that the process has now received an artificially heightened importance in the wake of Jan. 6, 2021, likely due to commonplace misunderstandings or lack of knowledge.
“I think the general public are just not aware of the nuances of the process,” Rashed said. “If I walk up to you and say we do it on the second Monday and the Speaker of the House presides over it, you’d probably say that sounds good to me.”
Rashed further elaborated that another point of misunderstanding was rooted in the vice president’s role in the certification process.
“The vice president presides over the joint session of Congress. They’re just a referee, they’re just calling balls and strikes,” Rashed said. “They can’t stop it, they can’t influence it, and they can’t change the outcome.”
McAllister said that the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 was a display of political violence that never should have happened. He believes that a repetition of events must be avoided at all costs.
“Jan. 6, 2021, was a threat to the democratic process in a way that we had never seen at the federal level,” McAllister said. “More Americans must be aware. That level of violence has occurred in American history before, did occur on Jan. 6, 2021, and must never happen again.”
As for the lingering effects of Jan. 6, 2021, McAllister said the event was a significant damaging point for public discourse and the ability for Americans to put aside political differences.
“I believe that these events will be an open wound and a visible scar on our national psyche for a while,” McAllister said. “It will be something that we must continue to heal from, learn from and move past.”
Inauguration Day is scheduled every four years at precisely noon on Jan. 20, or on Jan. 21 if the 20th falls on a Sunday.
This year’s ceremony for Trump falls on Monday, Jan. 20.
Trump will take the oath of office from inside the Capitol Rotunda, which is prepared as an alternative location for the ceremony in case of poor weather.
The day’s activities include a parade, which this year will feature first responders who were involved with his Butler County rally on July 13, 2024, where Trump survived an assassination attempt and one attendee, Corey Comperatore, was killed.
