In January 1981, Jimmy Carter nodded politely toward Ronald Reagan as the new Republican president thanked the Democrat for his administration's help after Reagan resoundingly defeated Carter the previous November.
The U.S. has a long tradition of defeated presidential candidates sharing the inauguration stage with the people who defeated them, projecting to the world the orderly transfer of power.
Only once in the television era has a defeated candidate skipped the exercise; that candidate, former President Donald Trump, left for Florida after a failed effort to overturn his loss based on false or unfounded theories of voter fraud.
Al Gore conceded to Republican George W. Bush after 36 days of legal battling over Florida's ballots and later stood beside Bush during the inauguration, emphasizing the tradition of graceful acceptance of electoral defeat.
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