Joe Biden used his first national address as US president-elect to vow to heal a deeply divided nation, declaring it was time to “let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end” and reaching out to the millions of people who voted against him to say: “Let’s give each other a chance.”
His calls for reconciliation at a Saturday evening victory celebration came even as US President Donald Trump continued to argue that the election had been stolen from him, an indication that the divisive politics that have gripped the US over the past four years are far from over.
It also suggested that even as Biden seeks to build out a government during his transition to the presidency, Trump has little interest in helping him do so.
Photo: AP
“For all those of you who voted for President Trump, I understand the disappointment,” Biden said during a drive-in event in Wilmington, Delaware. “It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again.”
Biden headed into his first full day as president-elect yesterday with key staffing decisions to make as the COVID-19 pandemic rages.
The always-frenzied 10-week transition period before inauguration day on Jan. 20 already has been shortened by the extra time it took to determine the winner of Tuesday’s election.
The second Catholic to be elected president, Biden planned to attend church at St Joseph on the Brandywine near his home in Wilmington, as he does nearly every week. He began election day with a visit to the church and the grave of his son, Beau, a former Delaware attorney general who died of brain cancer in 2015.
His top priority in the transition is expected to be quickly naming a chief of staff.
Biden suggested during the campaign that his first call after being elected would be to US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, but his advisers have not said whether the two have spoken yet.
Biden on Saturday said that he would announce a task force of scientists and experts today to develop a “blueprint” to begin beating back the virus by the time he assumes the presidency.
He said his plan would be “built on bedrock science” and “constructed out of compassion, empathy and concern.”
Biden was on track to win the national popular vote by more than 4 million, a margin that could grow as ballots continue to be counted. He made Trump the first incumbent president to be denied a second term since Republican George H.W. Bush lost to former Arkansas governor Bill Clinton in 1992.
To win, Biden successfully unified different wings of the Democratic Party around their universal loathing of Trump, garnering support from progressive insurgents and establishment moderates alike.
“The party came together to defeat Donald Trump,” said Brian Lemek, a long-time progressive fundraiser and executive director of Brady PAC, which invested US$6 million on candidates supporting gun violence prevention efforts and voting rights. “His main job right now, we all think, is to heal the nation.”
Biden senior adviser Ted Kaufman said the transition team would focus on the “nuts and bolts” of building the new administration in the coming days.
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