The red carpet was unrolled, the hall was packed, security was tight and Joe Biden took to the stage.

This was Nairobi in 2010 and Kenyans had come to listen to the-then US vice-president.

"I hope what I am saying doesn't come across as lecturing," he said in a phrase that usually heralds a lecture.

"I am not," he insisted. "But too many of your resources have been lost to corruption and not a single high-ranking official has been held accountable for these crimes."

President Trump, seen here with Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari, changed the image of the US abroad

I was one of those watching and, at that time, the US was a beacon of democracy and the rule of law, the land of the free and the brave and the source of an aspirational dream.

A decade on and a lot has changed.

Could Mr Biden now get away with a lecture - how ever well meaning - if he decides to visit Kenya?

President Donald Trump, through his America First policy, redefined the US' image abroad. But that image has also been altered through his actions and words - not least his reported dismissal of African countries in highly derogatory terms.

And though the office of the president can be separated from the individual, President Biden will, in the light of the last four years, have to address Kenya and the rest of the continent in a markedly different tone and with a markedly different message.

'No longer the shining city'

Examples of how Mr Trump steamrolled norms, and thereby tarnished the view of the US, are too many to fit in this piece.

But aside from the failure to release tax returns, undermining intelligence agencies and contradicting scientists in the midst of a pandemic, the events of 6 January, when the president's supporters stormed the US Capitol, showed that this went beyond one man.

President Joe Biden got to work immediately after being sworn in on Wednesday

The US was no longer the shining city on the hill.

Five people died as the protesters attempted to stop a joint session of Congress to certify Mr Biden's election victory, leading to accusations that the outgoing president was attempting a coup.