[imagesource: AP Photo/Andrew Harnik]
On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden will become the 46th president of the United States of America.
Donald Trump won’t concede – not now, not after the recounts in states where he is fully entitled to ask for one are done, and not after the litany of baseless claims and lawsuits that his campaign has launched have been dismissed.
But he doesn’t have to, because the voters have spoken.
Following Saturday’s updated vote count in Pennsylvania, media outlets announced that Biden had enough electoral college votes in the bag, making him the president-elect and ensuring America avoids the headache that comes with an electoral college tie.
Leaders and public figures from around the world offered their congratulations. Let’s start with the Clintons:
The voters have spoken, and they have chosen @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris to be our next president and vice president.
It’s a history-making ticket, a repudiation of Trump, and a new page for America.
Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. Onward, together. pic.twitter.com/YlDY9TJONs
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 7, 2020
America has spoken and democracy has won. Now we have a President-Elect and Vice President-Elect who will serve all of us and bring us all together. Congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on your momentous victory!
— Bill Clinton (@BillClinton) November 7, 2020
President Ramaphosa also got in on the action:
We congratulate President-Elect @JoeBiden and Vice President @KamalaHarris and the American people on your election. We look forward to working with you and deepening our bonds of friendship and cooperation. pic.twitter.com/aajOxmL8KI
— Cyril Ramaphosa
#StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) November 7, 2020
After years of cosying up to Donald Trump, Boris Johnson joined in:
Congratulations @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris pic.twitter.com/xrpE99W4c4
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 7, 2020
My favourite congrats of all came via the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which did not mince its words, at all:
The Nelson Mandela Foundation: “It is with a sense of relief that we have seen President Donald Trump defeated… We celebrate that we won’t have to watch him undermining democratic institutions & bringing the most powerful office in the world into disrepute for another 4 years.” pic.twitter.com/a4DcNqtNHC
— Geoffrey York (@geoffreyyork) November 8, 2020
Let’s get that in full from the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s website:
It is with a sense of relief that we have seen President Donald Trump defeated in the US presidential election. Like many around the world, we celebrate the fact that we won’t have to watch him undermining democratic institutions and listen to him bringing the most powerful office in the world into disrepute for another four years. Now begins the daunting task for the US of undoing the Trump administration’s deepening of racism, sexism, xenophobia, Afrophobia and many other intersecting vectors of prejudice and hatred.
We congratulate President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris on what has been a successful but punishing election campaign. We look forward to seeing the White House occupied by a leadership team which understands the central importance of human dignity. We take special pleasure from the fact that Mz Harris is the first woman in US history to fill the position of Vice-President.
We wish Mr Biden and Mz Harris well in what will be a difficult transition. We call on Mr Trump to embrace the democratic process, support the transition, and begin contributing to the healing of a deeply fractured society. As Nelson Mandela often used to say, a good leader knows when to step down. And how to do so appropriately. It’s not too late for Trump to embrace dignity, for himself and for others.
Mic drop. And also, it’s far too late.
For Jeff Bezos’ message, we head to Instagram:
Back to Twitter for Bill Gates, who is definitely working on a way to implant microchips into our bodies via a vaccine as we speak, guys.
That’s actually a thing people believe, by the way.
I look forward to working with the new administration and leaders on both sides in Congress on getting the surging pandemic under control, engaging partners around the world on issues like poverty and climate change, and addressing issues of inequality and opportunity at home.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) November 7, 2020
Still there? I’m not sure why you’ve hung around this long, but let’s wrap up with part of former President George W. Bush’s statement, via USA Today:
I just talked to the President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden. I extended my warm congratulations and thanked him for the patriotic message he delivered last night. I also called Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her historic election to the vice presidency. Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country. The President-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans. I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can…
President Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, and any unresolved issues will be properly adjudicated. The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.
That’s every living US president who has now offered congrats to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Yet, still, the 45th president remains defiant, his ego too fragile to admit that he has lost to a man be constantly berated as the “worst candidate in the history of presidential politics”.
See from 20 seconds below:
Sadly, he’s not a man of his word.
He’ll burn the house down before he leaves, because that is the kind of person he is.
[sources:mandelafoundation&usatoday]
