‘Bring down the temperature’: Biden promises orderly transfer
US President Joe Biden has urged everyone to “bring down the temperature” following Donald Trump’s election victory and sought to console Democrats alarmed at the former president’s stunning comeback.
“Setbacks are unavoidable. Giving up is unforgiveable,” Biden said at the White House Rose Garden on Thursday (US time), as he addressed staff who were disappointed in Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat.
“A defeat does not mean we are defeated.”
Biden said he would preside over an orderly transfer of power – an implicit rebuke of Trump, who sought to overturn his 2020 defeat to Biden and continued to raise claims of fraud this year.
“I will do my duty as President. I will fulfil my oath and I will honour the constitution. On January 20th, we will have a peaceful transfer of power here in America.”
Biden said Tuesday’s election had proven the integrity of the US electoral system.
“The American electoral system is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent,” he said.
“We lost this battle. The America of your dreams is calling for you to get back up.”
Amid a jockeying for positions in the new Republican administration, the president-elect is focused on what he’ll do immediately after taking the oath of office, CNN reports.
It reports that Trump has prepared executive orders, policy papers and regulation reversals ready to go on day one.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was among world leaders congratulating Trump.
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But Trump has criticised Biden’s assistance for Ukraine in its war with Russia. He has said he could end the war in 24 hours, but has offered no detailed plan.
The White House plans to rush billions of dollars in security assistance to Ukraine before Biden leaves office in January, sources said on Wednesday, hoping to shore up the government in Kyiv before Trump takes over.
Democratic fallout
Some Democrats have blamed Biden, 81, for Harris’ defeat, saying he should not have sought re-election.
Biden dropped his re-election bid in July, only after a disastrous TV debate with Trump raised alarm bells about his mental fitness.
Harris sought on Wednesday to console supporters. Like Biden, she promised to aid Trump’s transition before his inauguration on January 20 but urged Democrats to continue to fight for what they believe in.
Some Democrats worried their loss in Tuesday’s presidential election showed that their values – progressive, socially liberal – are now firmly a minority among Americans in a divisive campaign.
Others were frustrated with the party’s leadership, who they said had lost touch with voters who wanted help with the rising cost of living.
Trump’s victory, surprisingly decisive after opinion polls that had shown a neck-and-neck contest, underscored how disenchanted many Americans had become with the economy – in particular inflation – along with border security and the direction of the country and its culture.
Hispanics, traditionally Democratic voters, and lower-income households hit hardest by inflation helped fuel Trump’s victory.
Republicans wrested the US Senate from Democrats in Tuesday’s vote, ensuring Trump’s party will control at least one chamber of Congress next year.
Republicans also held an edge in the battle for the House of Representatives, although 38 of the 435 races still had no winner.
Trump prevailed in five of the seven battleground states to give him at least 295 Electoral College votes, more than the 270 needed to win the presidency.
He leads in the remaining two, Arizona and Nevada, where votes are still being tallied.
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Trump is also on track to become the first Republican presidential candidate to win the popular vote since George W Bush two decades ago.
In the weeks ahead, Trump will select personnel to serve under his leadership.
Among those who may figure, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a prominent Trump donor, has been promised a role in his administration, as has former presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy jr.
Chalmers says expect change
The US president-elect will stride back into the Oval Office after another “America First” campaign that included proposed tariffs of up to 20 per cent on all US imports and higher levies on imports from China.
In a speech at the Japanese embassy in Canberra, federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the world was increasingly vulnerable and volatile due to the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, as well as challenges in China’s property market.
“We shouldn’t be surprised if a new US administration brings change,” he told the Federation of Japan Chambers of Commerce and Industry event on Thursday night.
“But equally, we should be confident in our ability to navigate that change, as partners.
“Recognising that Japan and Australia have a shared interest in the United States remaining engaged in the world and engaged in our region.”
In a separate speech, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese launched an impassioned defence of democracy.
With right-wing populism on the rise, Albanese argued the strongest antidote to “corrosive forces of cynicism and division” was democracy delivering for people.
“Only dictatorships pretend to be perfect,” he said in Sydney, addressing the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.
“Democracy is proud to be human. It is, in every sense, a work in progress.”
Earlier, Albanese personally congratulated Trump on his election victory. Albanese, who in 2017 said Trump “scared the sh-t” out of him, said the pair discussed trade, security and the AUKUS partnership during their phone conversation.
“As Prime Minister, I have made it a priority to invest in relationships with world leaders, to build trust and respect in Australia’s best interests,” he told parliament on Thursday.
“I built that with President Biden and I will do so with president Trump.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton also congratulated Trump.
“We will make sure that president Trump is not somebody to be scared of, but somebody that we can work very closely with, and that’s exactly what we will do,” he told parliament.
Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said women in Australia were anxious about the consequences of Trump’s presidency and the country “desperately” needed to withdraw from AUKUS.
– with AAP
