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Business News/ News / World/  Biden seeks tolerance, unity as Trump refuses to concede
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Biden seeks tolerance, unity as Trump refuses to concede

President-elect vows swift action against covid, orderly transfer of power after a bitter election

Supporters of President-elect Joe Biden shout across the street towards supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, the day after a presidential election victory was called for Biden, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. November 8, 2020. REUTERS/Mark Makela (REUTERS)Premium
Supporters of President-elect Joe Biden shout across the street towards supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, the day after a presidential election victory was called for Biden, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. November 8, 2020. REUTERS/Mark Makela (REUTERS)

President-elect Joe Biden called on Americans to put aside the divisiveness of the past four years under Donald Trump with a victory speech that promised swift action against the coronavirus pandemic and an orderly transfer of power after a bitter election.

“Let’s give each other a chance," Biden told a cheering, honking crowd at a drive-in rally on Saturday night in Wilmington, Delaware, hours after he clinched the presidency.

“It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric. To lower the temperature. To see each other again. To listen to each other again. To make progress, we must stop treating our opponents as our enemy. We are not enemies. We are Americans," he said, even as Trump claimed victory for himself.

Vice president-elect Kamala Harris acknowledged her place as the first Black and Indian-American woman to serve in the role. She told the drive-in rally that they had chosen “hope and unity, decency, science and yes, truth."

Harris, 56, wore white, the colour of suffragettes. She said she stood “on the shoulders" of struggling women like her mother, an immigrant. “While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last," she said.

Biden’s message of healing and unity capped a day of celebration by his supporters that contrasted with recrimination from Trump, who rejected the outcome of the election and vowed to contest individual state results in court. The Democrats’ victory was sealed shortly before noon New York time on Saturday, when AP and television networks called the race in his favour.

By being declared the winner in Pennsylvania, Biden, 77, passed the threshold of 270 electoral college votes needed to capture presidency. He could end up with 306 votes if he wins in all the states where he is currently leading, a slightly larger edge than Trump had in 2016, when he secured 304 electoral votes.

Trump was in no mood to concede or even to signal to his supporters that it was time to stop the competition.

“I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!" Trump tweeted shortly before the race was called.

Trump was notably quiet during Biden’s speech and the minutes after it ended.

The president’s campaign has filed a series of lawsuits and recount demands, but several cases have already been dismissed and none of them so far seems to have the potential to change the race.

Biden moved quickly in his prime-time address to claim his place as the incoming commander-in-chief. He immediately addressed the central theme of his campaign—that he was more capable of responding to the coronavirus pandemic that has cost more than 237,000 lives in the US.

He announced that on Monday he would name a group of advisers to convert his campaign ideas for containing the pandemic into policy that he said would start on Inauguration Day, 20 January.

“That plan will be built on a bedrock of science," Biden said. “It will be constructed out of compassion, empathy, and concern."

The task force will be co-chaired by former surgeon general Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of public health at Yale University, according to a person familiar with his plans. It will also include Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama administration health adviser.

The co-chairs are scheduled to brief Biden on Monday after the rest of the task force is announced.

Biden also planned to quickly name his chief of staff, widely expected to be Ron Klain, a longtime aide who served as his vice presidential chief of staff during the administration of President Barack Obama.


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Published: 09 Nov 2020, 05:47 AM IST
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