U.S. President Joe Biden, a long-time political enemy of President-elect Donald Trump, claimed Thursday that Trump’s election to a second nonconsecutive four-year term in the White House was “fair” and “transparent,” and that there would be a peaceful transfer of power on January 20.
Biden, speaking to dozens of White House aides in the Rose Garden, acknowledged that Trump had defeated his vice president, Kamala Harris.
“The will of the people always prevail,” Biden said, “As I’ve said many times, you can’t love your country only when you win. And you can’t love your neighbor only when you agree.”
But Biden, a Democratic political figure for five decades, lamented what might have been — for the vice president he picked to run alongside him in 2020 to succeed him. He praised her campaign as “inspiring” and said she “gave her whole heart and effort.”
“We lost this battle,” Biden said. “Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable. We’re going to be okay, but we need to stay engaged. We need to keep going. And above all, we need to keep the faith.”
Biden described his single term as the U.S. leader as “an historic presidency” that will be “changing people’s lives” for years to come, especially infrastructure improvements throughout that the country that he pushed to congressional approval during the first two years of his presidency.
Biden, who ousted Trump from power in the 2020 election, said in a seven-minute address that he is leaving his Republican political rival and now his successor “the strongest economy in the world.”
While economic numerical standards support that assessment, voter exit polling revealed that Trump supporters were deeply dissatisfied with Biden and Harris’ handling of the world’s largest economy, owing to rising consumer prices that severely strained household budgets during their tenure.
Trump vowed during his campaign, without saying how, that he would bring down inflation. He has proposed new tax cuts during his upcoming administration, which would put more money in the pockets of consumers, particularly the wealthiest, and corporate coffers, but could also balloon the country’s long-term national debt that already totals nearly $36 trillion.
Biden called Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him and invited him to the White House soon to discuss their handover of power.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence stated on Thursday that if Trump wants US intelligence briefings, he will receive them. An ODNI spokesperson said the agency “is acting consistent with the tradition, in place since 1952, of providing intelligence briefings to the president-elect,” although it was not known whether Trump has made such a request.
