Trump Likely To Skip Biden Inauguration According To Odds

Donald Trump is being tipped to skip Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in January in one last snub of his political rival before leaving the White House.

President Trump has called foul on the US election result ever since Biden surprised his rival on course to a 306-232 victory back in November.

However, with Trump having failed to produce any evidence of wide-scale voter fraud, the Republican Party has accepted Biden’s legitimate victory and is preparing to leave office – even if the president himself is still fighting to keep his job.

Preparations are being made ahead of the January 20 inauguration day, where traditionally the outgoing president attends to hand over duties to the newcomer.

Barack Obama did this for Trump in 2017 when the businessman first took office, but there is growing doubt over whether Trump himself will be there this time.

Trump Tipped To Skip Inauguration

According to UK bookmakers Ladbrokes, Trump is 1/3 to be absent when Biden is sworn into office. That gives an implied probability of 75% that Trump won’t show.

There has already been rumours of the outgoing president skipping the event, although the Democrats don’t seem too preoccupied about it right now.

Asked about the possibility of Trump not appearing on the steps of the Capitol, Biden's press secretary said: “I would say it's not on the top 10 list, or even longer than that, of (Biden's) focus of priorities.”

Indeed, Biden claims he has already struggled to receive the full support of the Trump administration during the transition period to his presidency. Traditionally, incoming presidents use the two months afforded to them before taking office to prepare for the responsibilities of government.

But in a stinging rebuke of President Trump, Biden said: “Right now we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.”

Georgia Senate Election Betting

Meanwhile, the destiny of the US Senate remains in the balance ahead of a Georgia vote on two seats on January 5. The Republicans currently have a 50-48 majority in the Senate with two seats yet to fill.

Should the two remaining Georgia positions go to the Democrats, then the Senate would be tied and any split decisions would give Biden, as president, the final vote on legislation.

However, the Republicans are hoping one of Sen. David Purdue or Sen. Kelly Loeffler can keep their positions and secure a Red majority.

Ladbrokes currently price the Republicans as the 4/11 favourites to nail their majority, with a split Senate priced at 2/1. But recent polling suggests the race is much closer, with Sen. Purdue locked within 0.1% of rival Jon Ossoff, and Sen. Loeffler trailing one percentage point to Democrat Raphael Warnock.