Joe Biden says he'll fire staff 'on the spot' if they're disrespectful to colleagues: 'No ifs, ands, or buts'
President Joe Biden switched to tough-guy mode immediately after his inauguration ceremony on January 20. The new president laid out the ground rules for White House appointees in what most sites described as a "stern warning." "I'm not joking when I say this. If you're ever working with me - and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone - I promise you I will fire you on the spot," he said during the virtual ceremony in the White House's dining room. As per The US Sun, Biden made it clear right at the start that the tone of his administration would be markedly differently from the previous one. "On the spot. No ifs, ands, or buts. Everybody, everybody is entitled to be treated with decency and dignity. That's been missing in a big way in the last four years," he said.
"Cathy's gone through all your backgrounds, talked to me about you. I'm confident you have the capacity to do it," he added, referencing Cathy Russell, the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office.
His virtual address was witnessed by nearly 1,000 employees, the site added. In his address, he also spoke of how the team would not "walk away" from its responsibilities. "We're going to be judged whether or not we restored the integrity and the competency of this government. We're going to take responsibility. That's what we do. That's what you do. That's what so many of you have done throughout your career and I expect you to do it again," he added.
Biden was quick to start on the job after he called for unity among fellow Americans and an end to the country's "uncivil war" during his inaugural address. "Without unity, there is no peace, only bitterness, and fury," he said. "No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos."
"This is our historic moment of crisis and challenge," he continued. "And unity is the path forward". Biden took oath along with Kamala Harris, who also made history by becoming the first woman vice president of the US, and gave a speech that lasted more than 20 minutes.
"So now, on this hallowed ground where just days ago violence sought to shake this Capitol’s very foundation, we come together as one nation, under God, indivisible, to carry out the peaceful transfer of power as we have for more than two centuries," Biden said. "We look ahead in our uniquely American way — restless, bold, optimistic — and set our sights on the nation we know we can be and we must be."
Before speaking to his aides, Biden quickly set things in motion by reversing some of Trump's most contentious policies. Three executive orders were signed on Wednesday evening. The first was issuing a mask mandate, this was followed by the US rejoining the Paris Agreement and then putting an end to the Muslim travel ban. "This is going to be the first of many [inaudible] we're going to have in here," Biden said. "I thought with the state of the nation today there's no time to waste and - as I indicated earlier - we need to get to work immediately."
