President Joe Biden said in a White House speech Thursday that he has spoken with President-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on winning the election and to make sure that there will be a peaceful handover of power when he assumes office on January 20.
“I assured him that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve,” Biden said.
Trump easily won the presidency on Tuesday as he received Wisconsin’s electoral votes, which helped him over the 270-vote mark. Before Trump returns to his old home during his first term as president, which runs from 2017 to 2021, Biden said he had asked President-elect Trump to a meeting in the White House.
As the leaders of the country’s two major parties, Biden and Trump have been fierce competitors for years. Biden claims that Trump poses a threat to American democracy and that only he can stop him, while Trump often attacks the president about his age and cognitive ability. Trump has stoked the theory of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election, and he has never acknowledged that he lost to Biden.
On Thursday, Biden said in his speech that he also spoke with Harris after her defeat, which he called a “setback.”
“Yesterday, I also spoke with Vice President Harris,” he said. “She’s been a partner and a public servant. She ran an inspiring campaign, and everyone got to see something that I learned early on to respect so much. Her character—she has a backbone like a ramrod. She has great character, true character. She gave her whole heart effort, and she and her entire team should be proud of the campaign they ran.”
Harris stated in a concession statement from Howard University, her home mater, on Wednesday that although she accepts the outcome of the campaign, “I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign.”
Biden also gave advice and consolation to people who were disappointed by the election results from the White House on Thursday, as well as assurances that democracy can endure even under a Trump administration. Concerned about his age, Biden withdrew from the race in July, giving Harris three months to plan and run a successful campaign. Both Biden and Harris claimed that Trump posed a real threat to democracy during their campaigns for the presidency this election season.
“The struggle for the soul of America since our very founding has always been an ongoing debate and still vital today,” Biden said on Thursday. “I know for some people, it’s a time for victory to state the obvious. For others, it’s a time of loss. Campaigns are contests of competing visions. The country chooses one or the other. We accept the choice the country made. I’ve said many times, ‘You can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor, only when you agree.’ Something that I hope we can do, no matter who you voted for, is see each other, not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans.”
In addition, Biden talked about the last few weeks of his presidency while praising the economy’s recovery and, in general, the accomplishments of his government throughout the previous four years.
“The road ahead is clear, assuming we sustain it. There’s so much we can get done, and we’ll get done, based on the way the legislation was passed. And it’s truly historic,” Biden told the nation. “You know, we’re leaving behind the strongest economy in the world. I know people are still hurting, but things are changing rapidly. Together, we’ve changed America for the better. Now we have 74 days to finish the term, our term — let’s make every day count. That’s the responsibility we have to the American people.”
Biden delivered a platitude that he claimed to have heard from a generation before his own to those who were devastated by Harris’ defeat and the prospect of the Democrats losing control of the Senate and maybe the House of Representatives starting next year.
“Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable,” the president said. “We all get knocked down, but the measure of our character, as my dad would say, is how quickly we get back up.”
