♪ caroline: from bloomberg world headquarters in new york and here in london, i'm caroline hyde. joe: i'm joe weisenthal. romaine: i'm romaine bostick. on wall street, record highs. joe: the question is, "what'd you miss?" caroline: no matter what your political leanings, today is a historic day.

joe biden, sworn in as the 40 sixth president. it was inauguration day, but much different, i heavy security presence, social distancing, masks everywhere. the scene at the capital couldn't be more different, juxtaposed to what happened two weeks ago when a pro-trump mob stole -- stormed the building. biden faces a raging pandemic, struggling economy and social divide across large parts of the country. today also holds significance for the republican party. former president donald trump departs, doesn't attend. let's start with the biden administration. joe: joining us now with perspective is bloomberg opinion columnist robert dirge. robert, a very different image than what we saw just two weeks ago with that violent insurrection at the capital.

-- at the capitol. what was your take on the tone, the incident clearly acknowledged in the speech with biden also attempting to move forward and unite the country behind him. robert: i thought the overall tone was really well done. i have to give kudos to senators klobuchar and blunt, democrat and republican respectively, who were kind of the mc's, who just by their own tone brought the parties together. they had their own light hits of humor. it was almost as if the insurrection from two weeks ago hadn't happened, because you will he have this unity of the

former presidents, not counting president trump, obviously, the former presidents and their spouses there. and there was this really bipartisan attempt to move the country forward, even recognizing deep divisions that are there. i also thought president biden's speech was perfect, actually. in particular, by acknowledging the reality that donald trump had basically ignored the past two or three months, the pandemic itself, and the fact that this catastrophe has befallen the country, and that we have to get beyond that, biden in a sense that reality to try and create an atmosphere of unity, rather than just putting

out a laundry list of policy prescriptions he says he is going to be working on. i thought that was a great approach, in particular also having that moment of silence in the middle of the speech to recognize the 400,000 to have passed. romaine: we are going to see more of the president and vice president, kamala harris actually expected to be in the senate shortly to swear in the newest senators, including the two from georgia, who flipped the senate into democratic control, a 50-50 split between democrats and republicans and harris, the vice president, by the rules would be the tiebreaker. there was a tone of unity today, and not only for biden himself,

from the other speakers there. i want you to contrast that with the "american carnage" speech we heard four years ago, and the strategy by trump and the republican party to divide and conquer which, in fairness, was a strategy that to a large degree work. it won a lot of races at the state level and got trump 74 million votes this time around. does the future of the republican party still hinge on divisiveness to keep its base intact, or can it move to a unified message and win elections? robert: that particular approach is limited. it worked in 2000. it worked in 2016. that was kind of a shock. but it doesn't work when donald trump isn't on the ballot, as we saw in 2018 when democrats were

able to mount animus against trump to turn out their base. in 2020, we saw the limits of it, where president trump was a turnout machine for both sides, but the democrats were able to get more to turn out at the presidential level, and again when you had the runoff in georgia, president trump no longer on the ballot, and they lost those two georgia seats. so without him on the ballot in 2022, it is going to be a flip of the coin as to whether republicans are able to use that kind of divisive, divide and conquer approach, as they try and retake the senate and the house. caroline: but of course, not all

democrats sing on the same hymn sheet as well, and there is division within that party and members of congress as well. much bandwidth is the new administration have when it comes to covid? i am hearing the biden team saying the virus surge is already interfering with curbing the pandemic. the pandemic is front of mind for them. when you look at new york getting the vaccine in arms, is that the key issue? robert: that is the key issue. i think the president, particularly because of the attack a couple of weeks ago, biden once again may have slightly more of a honeymoon, the traditional honeymoon a president is going to have.

but it is going to be very, very limited. one of the biggest problems that the trump administration had, forget about the rhetoric, it was a basic competence issue. as we learned over the past couple of weeks, the vaccines supposedly held in reserve aren't there. so the biden administration, not having had the traditional transition access that a new administration has, is going to have at least a few weeks trying to figure out exactly what kind of resources they have going for them. so that is something they are going to have to pursue. they may also have more leeway in terms of getting republican support in terms of putting out a covid financial belief package. but again, that honeymoon, it is

a little bit better than we might have expected, but it is going to be limited. romaine: great to get your thoughts, bloomberg opinion columnist robert george. once you get past of the pomp and circumstance and parties, serious issues have to be dealt with. he's going to have to get down to brass tacks right away. we are still in the middle of the pandemic. we talk about that next, what biden has to do and whether a variant of the virus could pose challenges. bloomberg opinion columnist is going to be joining us after the break from london. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> a once in a century virus that silently stocks the country

has taken as many lives in one year as america lost in all of world war ii. millions of jobs have been lost. hundreds of thousands of businesses closed. a cry for racial justice some 400 years in the making moves us. the dream of justice for all will be deferred no longer. romaine: that is now-president joe biden at his inaugural address earlier today. one of the biggest challenges for his this ration is going to be covid, fighting this pandemic, getting it under control, getting vaccines driven -- vaccines distributed and joe, protecting against any variant or outbreaks. joe: this is obviously the immediate test, and the biden administration is very upfront about this. expanding the vaccination plan, using the defense production act to boost vaccines, improve

logistics, get essential workers the vaccine, increase vaccine availability at different sites, this is the number-one order of business. without this, the potential is there to torpedo the whole administration. i think biden is aware of that. joining us is bloomberg opinion columnist faye flam. faye, the vaccine production is expanding, and there are new variants rapidly spreading, some of them the earlier ones, some of them perhaps, we don't know for sure, but some of them resistant to the amenity people build up, or to the vaccine, what do we have to watch right now to feel confident that we are getting a handle on this pandemic? faye: we need to get more the vaccine out there.

the good news is, the vaccines work at of the people anticipated. they seem to work really well. one question i was wanting to answer in my last column was, what do we know about whether the vaccines are actually going to stop people from getting asymptomatic or silent cases, and passing on the disease? and the news is pretty good, that they probably do help. and that is really important for not having the virus more chances to get new you take should, and not letting new mutant versions spread as far as they would without these vaccines. caroline: faye, your forecast is all about the science of this, and we need your expertise. how much do we think, from a pr perspective, that people are understanding it? all i seem to hear is that people who are vaccinated are still managing to test positive for covid. how much are we winning the cultural war as well as the

virus -- as well as fighting the virus? faye: one message that hasn't gotten out there enough and should get out there is that getting the vaccine is a civic duty as well as something that is going to help your health. because it will cut back on transmission. some people will turn positive after getting the vaccine. it is not perfect. but we know it is likely to be a lot better than not getting the vaccine. so i think the focus on trying to get to herd immunity, trying to get more people vaccinated, is going to be increasingly important. some health-care workers don't want the vaccine, are afraid of it, and once we get past the older people and getting it to the younger people, we really want to get the message out that this is important for everybody. romaine: faye, with regards to the folks you talk to and reporting you are doing, once mass public is able to get the vaccine, is that a license for

us to congregate in crowds, or are we still going to have to take measures at social distancing uncovering our faces? faye: that is one of the big questions i try to answer in my next podcast episode. because none of us want to do this forever. this is not a good way to live, isolating from each other. we are social creatures. we need this. a lot of people live alone and really need to see friends. i think the right message is, it will take a while to get the vaccines out to people and will take a while for the vaccine to take effect. it actually doesn't take effect immediately, even after the second shot, it takes a couple weeks. and it is going to take a while to get it to people and take a while for it to get levels of the virus down. the right message is yes, eventually, yes, we will be able to be normal again, have a social life, go to restaurants and have fun and see our friends without a mask. but for the short term, we need

to keep doing these things. caroline: and the biden first 100 days, with a mask mandate coming in. bloomberg opinion columnist faye flam, thank you. meanwhile, we deep dive even more into inauguration day, and the future of the republican party. what is that like without donald trump in the white house? we break it down. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ >> i wish the new administration greatbatch -- great lock and great success -- great luck and great success. they have the foundation to do something spectacular.

goodbye. we love you. we will be back in some form. have a good life. we will see you soon. romaine: that was the former president of the united states departing, his farewell words, have a nice life. we should also talk about all the sausage making going on right here, and the sausage making in washington as you look at live shot of the senate signing of average large -- signing a very large book. not sure what the book is, but we are awaiting vice president kamala harris to swear in the latest batch of senators. joe: that will hand democrats official control of the senate. for more on the republicans, we want to bring in bracewell principal liam donovan. liam, thank you so much. couple days after the election, people were saying that it wasn't a bad night for

republicans, all things considered. but the donald trump approval ratings collapsing over the past couple weeks, lots of soul-searching, mcconnell calling out the president and saying it was the lies of the president and his allies that caused the insurrection at the capital. is there a path back for the old, pre-trump republicans? liam: yeah, it has been a rough path these past two months. people were already waiting in october to turn the page and think about what the party looked like without rump. and on that first tuesday in november, trump reaffirmed his grip on his party. the idea of him going away seems unthinkable, two months later, after a rocky bout of a lot of lies, a couple lost elections and one capital riot later and we are back to taking about how this party begins to navigate away from a guy who is appearing he is going to haunt them from some time -- for some time.

he is without his favorite megaphone, so that makes him seem a little less scary. they have to deal with impeachment trial in a couple weeks, and getting back to business as usual with donald trump easier said than done. caroline: interesting you bring up the so-called megaphone. at the moment, it is not trump who has the megaphone, it is the republicans that he needs. joe was mentioning what mitch mcconnell said about the person he worked very closely with. let's hear what he mentioned just yesterday. >> when the senate convened, we had just reclaimed the capital from violent criminals who try to stop congress from doing our duty. the mob was fed lies. they were provoked by the president and other powerful people. caroline: how much therefore, with no real social platform for

now former president trump, would you think republicans will say and how will the impeachment hearing go terms of whether he can be elected again, and to include lead the new party he might try to start? liam: considerations are different in the senate that in the house. in the impeachment vote in the house, 140 of the roughly 200 applicants did vote -- 200 republicans did vote against the charges, which gives you an idea of not necessarily the fear of donald trump, but understanding of where their voters are with respect to former president trump. you're saying that protected by mitch mcconnell, they are insulated from some -- you are seeing that projected by mitch mcconnell, they are insulated from some, but it is going to be tough to find 17 votes needed to convict him and you are you seeing senators find ways to get around the question, not least

of which the president is no love in the president. -- no longer the president. the operative question is, can they keep him from seeking office again? half of the party continues to want to see him in that role, potentially running as the 2020 for standardbearer. so it is a tricky situation. i think mcconnell is charging a way forward and it is an open question to see where congress is when this starts to play out. there will be new information presented at trial and that will need to really move the needle. romaine: he did receive more votes this time around that he did in the previous election, there are a lot of enthusiastic supporters and given what we saw over the last four years, it is unlikely he is going to leave the public stage. we are looking at pictures of what is going on in the senate right now as kamala harris swears he and a new members. with regards to the senate, the house, the legislative process which you have familiarity with,

liam, given the animosity we have seen over the last few years and what culminated a couple weeks ago with the storming of the capital, do you think the political system right now, this two-party system, that something effective can get done, the day to day governing can get done, without whatever happened over these last four years where you essentially had two sides that refused to budge? liam: the cycle of futility feeds the cynicism that leads to an untenable situation and if you feed people lies, they are going to act on them. one thing joe biden brings to the table beyond a realistic approach to how sausage is made in washington, realistic idea of how to get done, -- how to get things done, how to build coalitions, he was able to prove during the primary that he doesn't tune into the daily outrage, doesn't pay attention to what the actors are doing.

that opens an opportunity and you are seeing mcconnell already signaled that he is open to working with the president. putting points on the board, doing things that can get done, compromising, it is not what either side's face wants to hear, but the only thing you are going to to to start getting some faith back in the system, and to think that is critical to do what president biden wants to do, unite this country and move forward. caroline: bracewell principal liam donovan, years of experience working for the national senatorial committee and the like. thank you. we just talked about putting faith back in the system. system is at work and we can see it. romaine: this is chuck schumer, of course now the majority leader of the senate, effectively in charge, taking the reins from mitch mcconnell. joe: and the stakes are so significant. the first two years of the biden administration would have looked totally different without the

georgia race is going as they did, with mcconnell in control of the senate, massive implications for economic policy and so forth. romaine: you talk about the opportunities obama had the first couple years, some say he squandered it. we will see this time around. caroline: that does it for us. joe: "bloomberg technology" is next. romaine: and "daybreak australia" in australia. this is bloomberg. ♪

♪ emily: welcome to a special edition of "bloomberg technology," a new day in america. i'm emily chang in san francisco. the nation has sworn in its sixth president here is now-president joe biden taking the oath of office with supreme court justice john roberts. >> preserve protect and defend >>