Michael Clifford: Biden's triumph of democracy trumps American carnage 

President Joe Biden giving his inauguration speech on Wednesday: The only downside was the rare absence from a Biden speech of an airing of a few lines of Irish poetry. Picture: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky

Let the healing begin. Joe Biden introduced his term as the 46th President of the United States with a speech designed to reclaim an America held captive for the last four years.

He set the tone for his administration with words designed to heal, unify and strengthen. Nowhere did he mention his immediate predecessor, but the whole narrative was drenched with repudiation of the warped principles of Trumpism.