Biden calls for unity on 'day of history and hope'

US President Joe Biden called for “unity” and pledged to be a president for “all Americans” at his inauguration in Washington Wednesday, but warned of the challenges ahead as he takes on multiple crises.

Speaking at the US Capitol just two weeks after it was stormed by an armed mob supporting his predecessor Donald Trump, Biden declared: “This is America’s day, this is democracy’s day. A day of history and hope.”

But as the US confronts the deadly coronavirus and deep political divisions, he warned that to overcome its challenges will require “so much more than words, it will require the most elusive of all things in a democracy, unity.”

“Today on this January day, my whole soul is in this: bringing America together, uniting our people, uniting our nation, and I ask every American to join me in this cause,” the 46th US president said.

“This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge and unity is the path forward. And we must meet this moment as the United States of America.”

In the 21-minute speech Biden sketched out the challenges ahead.

“We need all our strength to… persevere through this dark winter. We’re entering what may be the toughest and deadliest period of the virus,” he said, calling on Americans to “finally face this pandemic as one nation.”

There is no time to waste when it comes to tackling the crises we face. That’s why today, I am heading to the Oval Office to get right to work delivering bold action and immediate relief for American families.

— President Biden (@POTUS) January 20, 2021

Biden spoke on the steps of the Capitol, which two weeks ago saw scenes of violence unprecedented in modern history as rioters egged on by Trump stormed the building, leaving five people dead and shaking US democracy to its core.

“Here we stand just days after a riotous mob thought they could … drive us from this sacred ground,” he said.

“It did not happen, it will never happen, not today, not tomorrow, not ever, not ever.”

The United States faces “a rise of political extremism, white supremacy, domestic terrorism, that we must confront, and we will defeat,” he said.

The new president called for the country to “reject the culture in which facts themselves are manipulated.”