 "US President Joe Biden addressed the country from the Rose Garden after Harris's loss.")
US President Joe Biden addressed the country publicly for the first time since Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democrat candidate in the 2024 presidential race, lost to her Republican rival and former President Donald Trump.
Peaceful transition of power
Speaking at the Rose Garden on Thursday (November 7), Biden said that he spoke to President-elect Trump, congratulated him on the victory, and assured him that “I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a smooth and orderly transition”.
“I will do my duty as President. I will fulfill my oath and I will honour the Constitution. On January 28, we will have a peaceful transition of power here in the United States of America,” Biden said.
Thinly-veiled attacks on Trump for election denial
Biden’s focus on a smooth transition of power also served as thinly-veiled attacks on Trump, who in 2020, had refused to extend this courtesy to him by claiming the Democrats had indulged in election tampering.
At the time, Trump had raised question on the integrity of the electoral procedure in the US. That remains a part of popular memory in the country to this day.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsBiden addressed this, albeit indirectly. “I also hope we can lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair, and transparent,” he said, further adding that the system “can be trusted– win or lose.”
On social media, some Democrat party supporters have taken jibes at Trump and Republicans for accepting the election results quickly in 2024 because they won, while having questioned it aggressively in 2020 when they had lost.
Biden’s comments, especially that “win or lose” bit, seemed to allude to such dubious behaviour.