Four years after Donald Trump refused to acknowledge losing the 2020 presidential election, President Joe Biden said he would honor Trump’s victory over Vice President Kamala Harris by facilitating a “peaceful and orderly transition” to the incoming Republican administration.
In remarks delivered from the White House Rose Garden on Thursday to an audience that included a large portion of Biden’s cabinet, plus his granddaughter, Finnegan Biden, the president called the American electoral system “the greatest experiment in self-government in the history of the world.”
“The people vote and choose their own leaders, and they do it peacefully. And we’re in a democracy — the will of the people always prevails,” he said.
To that end, Biden said he had held a congratulatory call with Trump — his predecessor and now his successor — and promised that he would “direct [his] entire administration” to work with Trump’s team to pass the baton to the incoming president and his staff.
“That’s what the American people deserve,” he added.
Biden also offered praise for Harris, who he said ran “an inspiring campaign” over the nearly 110 days since he announced that he was standing down from his re-election bid.
“She gave her whole heart and effort, and she and her entire team should be proud of the campaign they ran,” said Biden, who also praised Harris for her “character” and for having what he described as “a back like a ramrod.”
The president’s conciliatory words come just days after Trump shocked much of the world by besting Harris in both the electoral vote count, which determines the identity of the next president, and in the national popular vote. Those two victories gave him the popular mandate he lacked when a majority of Americans across the country voted against him despite his electoral college win in 2016.
The stunning election result that will usher in Trump’s triumphant return to the White House next year was a wholesale repudiation of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party represented by Harris. It’s the most recent in a string of elections that have seen incumbent parties get tossed out of power in most Western democracies, often in favor of right-wing populists and authoritarians with whom Trump shares an affinity.
Yet Biden stressed the need for the country he still leads to calm its collective nerves and honor the result.
“The country chooses one or the other. We accept the choice the country made,” he said.
Biden also praised the election workers and volunteers who helped run polls across the nation on Tuesday, and said he hopes the result of this election — four years after Trump and his supporters rejected the outcome of the last — can “lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system.”
“It is honest, it is fair and it is transparent, and it can be trusted, win or lose,” he said.
Turning to the matter of the remaining days of his four-year term, Biden reminded the audience of staff and cabinet members that their work over the last four years had “changed America for the better” and urged them to “make every day count” during the 74 days they have left in power.
And in an echo of Harris’s concession remarks less than 24 hours before, he urged people not to despair at the election results.
“Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable ... Remember, a defeat does not mean we are defeated,” he said.
Though Democrats may have lost the “battle” this week, he told his staff — and the American people — that the “America of your dreams” is still “calling for you to get back up.”
“That’s the story of America for over 240 years and counting. It’s a story for all of us, not just some of us... the American experiment endures,” he said. “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.”
