Everything’s getting more and more official by the day.
Late on Monday, just a few short hours after Donald Trump accepted a formal U.S. presidency transition, “recommending his team do what needs to be done” while continuing to pledge his quest to contest the election result, President-elect Joe Biden took to Twitter to unveil a shiny new web address that contains a subtle flex.
The site in question is the Biden-Harris team’s transition site, which was launched shortly after the election in order to outline the incoming administration’s priorities while providing news and details of the presidential transition process. It’s a pretty crucial resource, in other words, and yet another part of the transition that’s been hampered by Trump’s stubborn refusal to allow the transfer process to move forwards.
Not anymore, though.
That’s right: dot gov. If you visit the URL’s old .com address it now redirects to the new, government-approved version (.gov is described as “the top-level domain for U.S.-based government organizations” on the official DotGov website).
Although the change may seem small, it’s a significant moment for the incoming Biden-Harris administration, as part of a process formally (and finally) greenlit on Monday by Emily Murphy, the head of the General Services Administration, the federal agency that allocates funds and resources for the incoming administration’s transition. And with the President-elect set to announce his cabinet picks Tuesday, a significant moment ahead of his inauguration set for Jan. 20, 2021, the timing is even more important.
Needless to say, people noticed. It wasn’t long before Biden’s tweet had over 20,000 retweets, and “dot gov” was trending on Twitter.
Sometimes you don’t need a sequence of rambling tweets to make your point.
Sometimes all you need are three simple letters.