Biden vowed an orderly transition
President Biden said today that he accepted Donald Trump’s victory and vowed to honor the Constitution with a peaceful transfer of power, even as he acknowledged the pain felt by supporters of him and Kamala Harris.
“The American experiment endures,” Biden said at the White House. “We’re going to be OK, but we need to stay engaged. We need to keep going, and above all, we need to keep the faith.”
The remarks came as a demoralized Democratic Party played the blame game and stared at a largely powerless future. In dozens of interviews, lawmakers and strategists tried to explain Harris’s defeat, pointing to misinformation, the war in Gaza, a toxic Democratic brand and the party’s approach to transgender issues.
Democratic voters, some of whom had become dedicated activists after Trump’s first win, are wondering if they can summon the strength to do it all — or even some of it — over again.
Trump has shifted his focus to filling out his second administration with loyalists ready to deliver on his campaign promises, which were far more sweeping than what he enacted in his first term. His expansive agenda would reshape government, foreign policy, national security, economics and domestic affairs as dramatically as any modern president has before him.
In other political news:
Republicans inched closer to control of the House of Representatives with three victories in Pennsylvania districts.
The Republicans’ election dominance carried into state legislatures, where the party made gains in Minnesota, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Harris’s resounding defeat affirmed the worst of what many Black women believed about their country.
Jan. 6 defendants are already angling for pardons from Trump.
Many Christian conservatives saw the battle for the White House as a holy war. Now, with Trump’s victory, their vision goes beyond politics.