“The clown is finally gone,“ said Wagner, a 52-year-old secretary. As Biden took office Wednesday (Thursday NZT), vowing to unify a nation riven by caustic political divisions and a deadly pandemic, the rest of the world watched closely too. Many were focused less on Biden’s ascension than on the departure of Trump, a larger-than-life character who relished disrupting the status quo at home and abroad and who will be remembered as one of the most controversial presidents not only in American history, but globally. “Good riddance,” said Nydia Ngiow, the former trade negotiator for the Singaporean government who spent several years working in Washington in her government’s embassy.