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      in US Politics

      Pressure builds on Trump to concede as Biden pushes ahead with transition plan

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      Pressure was mounting on Donald Trump on Wednesday to concede the US election that he lost to Joe Biden by more than 5 million votes, even as the president continued to pursue claims on social media and in court about ballot tampering and fraud – without evidence.
      The president’s refusal to accept defeat is increasingly alarming those senior Republicans prepared to admit it, with one, former US senator and former defence secretary William Cohen, calling Trump’s behavior “more akin to a dictatorship than a democracy”.
      As European leaders lined up to congratulate Biden, British prime minister Boris Johnson even referred to Trump as the “previous president” while talking in parliament, although Trump is president for 10 more weeks.
      Trump fired his defence secretary Mark Esper by tweet on Monday and followed up with a purge of several senior civilian officials at the Pentagon, raising further concerns over his intentions.
      Meanwhile Biden, the Democrats’ winning candidate, who has already secured more than the 270 electoral college votes he needed, pressed ahead with building his transition team and speaking out about urgent issues facing the US, including the coronavirus pandemic.
      As more votes from the election were counted and his popular vote advantage over the Republican incumbent continued to grow, Biden laid a wreath at a Korean war memorial in Philadelphia to mark Veterans Day.

      And in pelting rain, Trump, who had not had any public engagements since Biden was declared the election winner on Saturday morning, laid a wreath at Arlington national cemetery.
      This in the wake of reports in September that Trump had previously referred to military veterans as “losers” and “suckers”. The president did not make any public remarks during the remembrance ceremony.
      Biden has attempted to lower the temperature of the furore swirling around the White House since election day, and promised on Tuesday “to get right to work” on the transition while ignoring provocation from the Trump administration, including baseless claims of voter fraud and the thwarting of access to intelligence briefings and federal funding to help finance the transfer of power.
      Without money from the federal General Services Administration, headed by Trump appointee Emily Murphy, Biden’s team is hampered from conducting background investigations and obtaining security clearances for prospective staff.
      In a statement released on Wednesday, Biden attempted to reinforce his message of calm. “Today, we as a nation pause to honour the service, the valour, and the commitment of all those who have worn the uniform of the Armed Forces of the United States,” it said.
      “This Veterans Day, I feel the full weight of the honour and the responsibility that has been entrusted to me by the American people as the next president, and I vow to honour our country’s sacred obligation.”
      A day earlier, at an event to unveil his plans for healthcare policy once he assumes office, Biden called Trump’s refusal to concede “an embarrassment”.
      Numerous world leaders have congratulated Biden on his victory, including the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Ireland and some southern European and middle-eastern nations, although not China or Russia. More

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      in US Politics

      Trump's refusal to concede follows his pattern of incompetence and delusions | Richard Wolffe

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      Like all good seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness, the end of the Trump era is a heady mix of sweet melancholy.
      There will come a time, soon, when world leaders look back on the last four years with a wry smile and a shake of the head. Instead of the sheer blood-draining horror of sitting beside a sociopathic maniac with the power to destroy the world in a nuclear holocaust.
      For now, we must savor the last oozings of this Fall of Donald.
      He cuts a tired and bloated figure, to be sure. He tweets less, but he does so in ALL CAPS. All the time. He promises the most amazing revelations and achievements, coming very soon, just like he said they would.
      “WE ARE MAKING BIG PROGRESS,” he tweet-shouted on Tuesday. “RESULTS START TO COME NEXT WEEK. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
      But next week is when some states begin certifying their votes. The electoral college meets in one month. Now isn’t the time for making progress, or for recycling the slogans of losing campaigns long gone. A week after losing the election, now is the time to deliver the goods, or be delivered for good.
      As all good Arsenal fans know, it’s the hope that kills you. And Trump has likely killed more than 700 fans (or their friends) with his awesome campaign rallies.
      It’s not easy to keep hope alive in what passes for Trump’s legal circles. As the Biden transition team points out, no less than 13 Trump lawsuits have been dismissed before and after the election. The arguments run the gamut from baseless to mindless, from Sharpie pens to vote count observers. They have mostly failed, just like the Trump presidency.
      Take the case of the single postal worker in Pennsylvania who claimed to have witnessed something nefarious involving mail-in ballots. His allegations were swiftly seized upon by the former military lawyer and Trump super-booster Senator Lindsey Graham. Within hours, the attorney general of the United States ordered US attorneys across the country to get to work investigating such claims.
      Sadly, the postal worker recanted the whole story on Tuesday, leaving the Trump campaign to wonder if he was suffering unduly from all the public exposure.
      One of the few bright spots in an otherwise unremittingly overcast sky was the Pennsylvania and supreme court ruling to segregate ballots that arrived after election day. This epic legal triumph shrunk to bacterial size when Pennsylvania’s secretary of state revealed that the segregated ballots amounted to just 10,000 votes. Joe Biden is currently leading the state’s votes by more than 45,000.
      Never mind the battleground states. The Trump administration has been living in a state of denial for the last four years. They claimed the pandemic would disappear like a miracle. That climate crisis was an exaggerated fiction. They said the world respected Donald Trump. And Rudy Giuliani really intended to stage a press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
      There’s a pattern in here somewhere. Oh yes. It’s a pattern of snort-inducing lies, incompetence and delusions.
      As the sun sets on Trump, our unnaturally bronzed soon-to-be ex-president is clinging on to the summer of his power with every tweet he can muster. He absolutely, defiantly, categorically will not concede the election, or allow his officials to work on a transition.
      This is a shame because it makes him look a pathetically sad loser with a paper-thin skin, which he has been forever. But it’s a shame for his many ardent defenders whose job would be so much easier if they were defending someone with a shred of decency, integrity or maturity.
      Commentators at The Wall Street Journal and Fox News (proprietors: the Murdoch family) have strained mightily to condemn the Democrats for being mean, while standing up for every candidate’s right to file endlessly frivolous lawsuits. Republican senators refuse to congratulate the president-elect, Joe Biden, because this election isn’t over until Trump leaves the White House under the armed escort of the Secret Service.
      And the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, half-jokes that he’s ready for a smooth transition to a second Trump term, thereby destroying three decades of American efforts to promote democracy around the world.
      No wonder Pompeo is doing sweetheart interviews with small-time rightwing radio hosts such as Mike Belling (Standing Up For Milwaukee) who asked him if he agreed that America was more respected after four years of Trump.
      Mike: the answer is no. How can you stand up for Milwaukee if you’ve forgotten how to stand up?
      So we have the reality that nearly 80% of Americans believe that Biden won last week’s election while the fantasy politics game of the last four years plays itself out for one more month. There’s even supposed to be a “Million Maga March” in Washington DC this weekend. Let’s hope the crowd is bigger than a Tulsa rally in June.
      There seems to be some debate going on, as political insiders try to figure out if this whole post-election period is some coup in the works or an elaborate joke to stop another Trump tantrum. “What’s the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time,” one anonymous Republican official told The Washington Post.
      Setting aside the obvious damage Trump is inflicting on the Biden transition, there might just be some downside for his party in the two run-offs in Georgia that will decide control of the US Senate next year.
      Georgia’s Republican candidates could spend the next two months talking about how they will act as a check and balance on a Biden presidency. Or they could just deny the outcome of the election and face endless questions about the last of Trump’s summer whine.
      What’s the downside of a little bit humoring of a little old president? There is the small matter of American national security, including its vastly expensive and super-secret intelligence community.
      There could be an innocent explanation for a lame-duck president firing the secretary of defense, and installing former aides to House Republican Devin Nunes and Michael Flynn at the National Security Agency and to run the huge Defense Intelligence Agency. Nunes was one of the key players undermining the Mueller and FBI investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Meanwhile Flynn, Trump’s first national security adviser, was convicted of lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts during the Trump transition.
      What on earth could go wrong with our national exercise in humoring Donald Trump?
      There is a season for everything and everyone. For Joe Biden, this is a time to heal, to reach out to Republicans and bring the country back together.
      But for Donald Trump, winter is coming, and with it probably a long-overdue IRS bill, a very large bank debt for repayment, or a New York prosecution for tax fraud.
      Never mind the mellow fruitfulness. It’s time to burn the village down. More

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      in Elections

      US election 2020: Biden says denying result 'will not help Trump's legacy' – live updates

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      Key events

      Show

      8.44am EST08:44
      Florida bracing for second hit from Hurricane Eta

      8.03am EST08:03
      Joe Biden’s vote lead over Donald Trump stretches to more than 5 million

      7.48am EST07:48
      Canadian PM Trudeau says looking forward to working with Biden on climate change, economy and Covid response

      7.11am EST07:11
      Texas becomes first US state with more than 1 million confirmed Covid cases

      Live feed

      Show

      10.06am EST10:06

      Even Donald Trump’s own campaign is acknowledging they have failed to produce any evidence of election fraud.

      Jessica Silver-Greenberg 🕵🏻‍♀️
      (@jbsgreenberg)
      A Pennsylvania judge asked a Republican lawyer whether he was alleging any fraud. His answer, in direct contradiction of @realDonaldTrump: “at present, no.” pic.twitter.com/nUxMt6W0bB

      November 11, 2020

      Appearing before a Pennsylvania judge yesterday, one of the president’s lawyers was asked flat-out whether the campaign was alleging fraud in connection to a batch of ballots.
      The lawyer replied, “To my knowledge at present, no.”
      Just to be crystal clear: there has been absolutely no evidence of widespread fraud in the presidential election.

      9.48am EST09:48

      Republican Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia city commissioner, defended the integrity of his city’s vote count after Donald Trump and his team raised baseless concerns about election fraud.

      New Day
      (@NewDay)
      “I realize a lot of people are happy about this election, and a lot of people are not happy… one thing I can’t comprehend is how hungry people are to consume lies and to consume information that is not true.”- Phila. City @Commish_Schmidt on claims of widespread voter fraud pic.twitter.com/XoweYxMUQO

      November 11, 2020

      Schmidt said the city had to stay focused on counting valid ballots before the certification deadline, a goal that “should not be controversial.”
      “I have seen the most fantastical things on social media, making completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact at all,” Schmidt told CNN.
      “I realize a lot of people are happy about this election, and a lot of people are not happy,” Schmidt added. “One thing I can’t comprehend is how hungry people are to consume lies and to consume information that is not true.”
      As Schmidt’s interview aired, Trump accused the city commissioner of being “used big time by the Fake News Media to explain how honest things were with respect to the Election in Philadelphia.”
      “He refuses to look at a mountain of corruption & dishonesty. We win!” Trump said in a tweet.
      In reality, Joe Biden currently leads Trump in Pennsylvania by about 48,000 votes, and the president’s team has provided no evidence to substantiate allegations of election fraud.

      9.29am EST09:29

      This is Joan Greve in Washington, taking over for Martin Belam.
      Donald Trump’s advisers are privately acknowledging they are unlikely to prevent Joe Biden from taking office, after the president-elect was named the winner of the electoral college.
      The Washington Post reports:

      [E]ven some of the president’s most publicly pugilistic aides, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and informal adviser Corey Lewandowski, have said privately that they are concerned about the lawsuits’ chances for success unless more evidence surfaces, according to people familiar with their views.
      Trump met with advisers again Tuesday afternoon to discuss whether there is a path forward, said a person with knowledge of the discussions, who, like others interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. The person said Trump plans to keep fighting but understands it is going to be difficult. ‘He is all over the place. It changes from hour to hour,’ the person said. …
      The vote counting, meanwhile, continued apace as the states work toward certifying the vote, a process that should largely be finished by the beginning of December. In Georgia, the deadline for county certification is Nov. 13, but the majority of counties had already completed the task by Tuesday afternoon. Next comes a statewide audit, after which Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, must certify the results no later than Nov. 20.

      As a reminder, every major news outlet has declared Biden to be the winner of the presidential race, and the Democrat currently leads Trump in the popular vote by more than 5 million votes.

      9.01am EST09:01

      Speeches from candidates conceding defeat in past US elections have been resurfacing after Donald Trump refusal to speak out since losing to Joe Biden. Here’s a little supercut to remind you of the way things used to be done after an election defeat.

      Incidentally, while they are attracting a lot of attention, Trump’s claims that voter fraud has denied him victory is cutting little mustard with the broader American public. A Reuers/Ipsos poll released Tuesday showed 79% of US adults believe Biden won. That includes around 60% of those who identified themselves as Republican supporters.
      And with that I shall hand you over to Joan Greve in the US. Thanks for reading, I’ll be back next week…

      8.57am EST08:57

      You’ll probably want to pop this in your diary.

      CBS News
      (@CBSNews)
      Barack Obama will be interviewed on “60 Minutes” and “CBS Sunday Morning” on Sunday, November 15, in what will be his first television interviews following the 2020 presidential election https://t.co/JbJfKbcoxs

      November 11, 2020

      8.52am EST08:52

      It wasn’t just the presidency and Senate and House races on the ballot last week. Lots of states were also asking their residents to make decisions of statewide laws. Kari Paul in San Francisco reports for us on one that might have a much wider significance – California’s Prop 22.

      After a historic spending spree and an aggressive public relations campaign, Uber and Lyft emerged victorious on election day when California voters passed a ballot measure that exempts gig companies from having to treat their drivers like employees.
      For big tech companies, the win was a crucial step in their fight to protect their business model, and they hope it will serve as an example for tech legislation around the US.
      For opponents, it showed the power of big money in fighting legislation, and represents a harbinger of the labor rights battle to come.
      Prop 22 was authored by Uber, Lyft, Doordash and Instacart, and will carve out an exception for these firms from AB5, a landmark labor law in California that came after years of complaints from driver organizers and would have forced ride-share and delivery companies to treat drivers as employees.
      Under Prop 22, workers at gig companies will continue to be classified as contractors, without access to employee rights such as minimum wage, unemployment benefits, health insurance, and collective bargaining.
      The ballot initiative, opponents warned, would continue poor wages and substandard working conditions for gig workers, and it would leave them with little recourse to fight those conditions. Labor advocates fear the victory for tech firms could mark the beginning of similar efforts across the US.

      Read more here: Prop 22 – why Uber’s victory in California could harm gig workers nationwide

      8.44am EST08:44

      Florida bracing for second hit from Hurricane Eta

      Residents in Florida are still dealing with the flooding that tropical storm Eta caused earlier in the week – and there’s now further bad news. Associated Press report that Eta has regained hurricane strength and the state needs to brace for a second hit from the storm. More

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      in Elections

      End of Trump era deals heavy blow to rightwing populist leaders worldwide

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      As the Donald Trump era draws to a close, many world leaders are breathing a sigh of relief. But Trump’s ideological kindred spirits – rightwing populists in office in Brazil, Hungary, Slovenia and elsewhere – are instead taking a sharp breath.The end of the Trump presidency may not mean the beginning of their demise, but it certainly strips them of a powerful motivational factor, and also alters the global political atmosphere, which in recent years had seemed to be slowly tilting in their favour, at least until the onset of coronavirus. The momentous US election result is further evidence that the much-talked-about “populist wave” of recent years may be subsiding.For Brazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has yet to recognise Joe Biden’s victory, Trump’s dismissal struck close to home. “He was really banking on a Trump victory … Bolsonaro knows that part of his project depends on Trump,” said Guilherme Casarões, a political scientist from Getulio Vargas Foundation in Brazil.As the reality of a Trump-free future sunk in last Thursday, Bolsonaro reportedly sought to lighten the mood in the presidential palace, telling ministers he now had little choice but to hurl his pro-Trump foreign policy guru, Filipe Martins, from the building’s third-floor window.The election result represented a blow to Bolsonarismo, a far-right political project modelled closely on Trumpism that may now lose some of its shine. And on the world stage the result means Brazil has lost a key ally, even if critics say the relationship brought few tangible benefits. It brings an end to what Eliane Cantanhêde, a prominent political commentator, called Bolsonaro’s “megalomaniacal pipedream” of spearheading an international rightwing crusade. More

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      in US Politics

      Joe Biden's coalition is whiter, wealthier – and will not stick around | Ben Davis

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      Democrats went into last Tuesday’s election with a clear strategy: flip enough suburban Republican voters to beat Donald Trump. This paid off: Joe Biden won the election by flipping enough voters in the suburbs of Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia and Phoenix. The election, however, exposed the gaping flaws in this strategy for any party that hopes to win and wield power. Democrats may have accomplished their near-term goal, but in the long term the party is in an extraordinarily weak place, built on a rickety coalition united only by a hatred of a president who will soon no longer be a threat. The Democrats took the shortest route to beating Trump, but in the process may have irreparably damaged their ability to build a governing majority and implement progressive policy.The period immediately after an election tends to be a time of myth-making rather than serious analysis. These myths, however, often take the place of truth and influence both political strategy and voters themselves for years after. So what do we know actually happened? Biden won the presidency, by a fairly clear margin in both the popular vote and electoral college, but with margins that were far too close for comfort in the decisive states. Democrats lost seats in the House and, pending special elections in Georgia, will either have lost or tied in the Senate. They were projected to win both the House and Senate.Biden was able to hit the numbers he needed in the crucial highly educated suburbs, but many of these traditionally Republican voters split their tickets down ballot, voting for the Republican in the US Senate and House of Representatives. Despite polls showing clear gains for Biden among white non-college-educated voters in the rural midwest, Democratic gains here were minimal, and in some places, like much of rural Wisconsin, Trump actually increased his margin after it had seemed like Democrats had hit rock bottom in 2016. With the hugely increased turnout, Trump actually netted more votes out of much of the rural midwest than in 2016.Most concerningly, Democrats hemorrhaged votes among non-white working-class voters. Exit polls show Trump winning more non-white voters than any Republican in a generation. This was most apparent among Cuban American voters in Miami-Dade county, who of course have their own idiosyncratic politics. But losses among Latino voters could also be seen in huge margins in the Rio Grande valley, one of the most impoverished regions in the country, in Osceola county, Florida, and up and down the map from El Centro, California, to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Early returns also show consistent gains for Republicans among black voters across the board. Even in the crucial states Biden was able to flip, Trump reduced Democratic margins in Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia. These results should be setting off alarm bells among Democrats.The first post-election myth is the same that emerges from Democratic leadership and media talking heads after every election: the threat of the “far left”. The election has given an opportunity for elected Democrats to engage in their favorite pastime and primary political commitment: lashing out at anyone, anywhere who might want to do anything about climate change or crushing inequality or systemic racism. This myth must be combatted, not only is it a threat to the progressive left and Democrats ability to win elections, it’s on its face false.As noted by the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, incumbent Democrats in swing and even Republican-leaning seats who co-sponsored Medicare for All were undefeated, while every Democrat who lost their seat took a conservative position on the issue. An analysis of swing seats by Justice Democrats showed that more conservative voting records were actually correlated with decreased vote share among incumbent Democrats. Exit polls showed massive support for a leftwing policy agenda. Where this agenda was on the ballot, it was triumphant even as moderation-obsessed Democrats lost up and down the ballot. In Florida, where Democrats distanced themselves from a ballot measure to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, the result was a huge win for the $15 minimum wage and a bloodbath for Democratic candidates. For many voters, the Democratic party isn’t associated with raising the minimum wage, and with the Democrats’ messaging strategy, why should it be?If leftwing policy is popular, are Democratic losses among Latino voters a question of branding?If leftwing policy is popular, are Democratic losses among Latino voters a question of branding? Some centrists Democrats say an aversion to “socialism” was the issue, causing voters to flee the Democrats. Luckily, we have a good test of this idea from just this year, the primary run of avowed socialist Bernie Sanders. Far from fleeing in horror, Latino voters went for the socialist Sanders by enormous margins. In the nearly all-Latino Rio Grande valley, where Trump saw his largest gains anywhere, Sanders took nearly every county. Outside of Florida, Sanders won nearly every majority-Latino jurisdiction where Trump saw gains this year. These voters aren’t opposed to “socialism” – they are skeptical of the political establishment, not receptive to Democratic messaging about “decency” and political norms, and, most importantly, can’t be taken for granted. Following the lead of the Sanders campaign, Democrats need a real commitment to Latino outreach.This current iteration of the Democratic coalition should be terrifying to anyone with leftwing policy goals or anyone who wants to see Democrats win elections. Biden’s coalition was whiter and wealthier than any Democrat’s before. Biden’s winning margins depended on suburban voters who were entirely motivated by personal animus towards Trump, who voted Republican down-ballot and will certainly be voting Republican in future elections. After buying into the mantra that turning out working-class voters was an impossible Bernie Sanders fantasy and messaging had to be tailored to wealthy suburbanites, Democrats were entirely caught off guard by massive turnout among working-class voters of all races, voters who voted Trump at higher rates than any previous Republican has achieved.Democrats are now staring down the barrel of a future where Republicans have a real foothold among working-class voters, including non-white voters. For the left, we now have to confront a Democratic party where a real organized segment of its base has material interests opposed to any redistributive policy. This election has proven the moderate suburbanite strategy is unsustainable. The only path forward for the left is one of confrontation with the Democratic establishment and a message of economic populism aimed at working-class voters of all races. This election proved that workers vote; it’s the left’s task to capture them. More

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      in Elections

      Joe Biden's election alone cannot heal a divided nation. We will all have to do that | Susan Bro

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      I absolutely hate political ads. They are usually nasty, formulaic, contradictory. Each will point out that candidate X is a lying, untrustworthy person who will destroy the very fabric of society. Candidate Y, however, will fix everything, if only I cast my vote their way. Switch candidates and repeat, repeat, repeat. Eventually they are recognizable by the tone of voice. My husband and I race for the remote to mute them, even when we agree with them.
      We cast our ballots and awaited the outcomes with bated breath – with some cheers, some groans. Now, after days of counting, we have a new president. But the honest truth is that we are going to remain heavily divided.
      Elections do not mute political animosity. We, the people, save our democracy when we reconnect at the personal level. Some people we see the most often may be the most at odds with us – neighbors, fellow worshipers, soccer parents, our own family.
      How do I reach out to someone whose beliefs are diametrically opposed to my own? How do I retain my convictions while connecting?
      Some want discussion to stop so life can return to normal. Normal means status quo. It means, “let me have my life back the way it was before.” If your life is one of generational wealth, privilege, economic opportunity, relatively good health, and all the freedoms and happiness those imply, that might be fine for you and others just like you.
      The concept of democracy is based on the promise of freedom, rights and justice for all. We know that is absolutely not the case for everyone in the United States. Many are denied justice, generational wealth, quality education, medical care, housing and freedom. They are not afforded these due to skin color, place of birth, gender, gender identity, physical or mental condition. Simply returning to normal means abandoning them. And that is not acceptable.
      Most of my life, I’ve been surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains. They are a fixed part of my horizon. They represent strength and stability, born of the Earth’s crust, pushed and shaped by circumstances beyond their control. They stand the test of time, largely immutable. I envision my convictions as mountains. Here are my places of strength from which I reach out to others.
      My mountains are antiracism, affordable healthcare and justice for all. My beliefs are based on the notion that when any of us is marginalized, we all are. These concepts bolster what I do, what I study, how I spend my money and how I cast my votes. It is essential to me to entice others to those mountains if I want to see those changes.
      This requires moving out of my comfort zone to find others equally willing to act in good faith. Trust and respect allow us to hear one another. Otherwise, our words bounce off the walls between us. A level of transparency can give us authentic points of connection. Difficult conversations ensue as we as ask people to talk about their mountains and why they chose those mountains. We then truly listen to their answers, trying to understand. And we, ourselves, participate in moments of true reflection to talk about our own mountains.
      Some people are simply tourists, wandering the terrain of their own lives not having chosen to stand on any mountains. A few have been enticed into a course of action that they may not actually want, but are unsure of their options. And others are perfectly content with their mountains, but are at least willing to discuss them.
      Some groups of people have been speaking for decades, and we have not been listening at all. We can uncenter ourselves and pay attention to what they are saying. We are responsible to educate ourselves, reaching out only as we are better informed and cause no further harm.
      In reaching out, I can plant seeds of understanding which perhaps are brought to fruition by others. Some may never come to a place of compassion or comprehension. There are more people out there who want to make this democracy work than those who do not. They just might be a bit overwhelmed at the moment and swept along in the current, trying to find a firm footing once again.
      We, the people, cast our votes. And now we must take ownership of our democracy.
      Susan Bro works as an advocate for positive social change through the Heather Heyer Foundation and hate crime legislation More

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      in US Politics

      Guardian readers on the election result: 'The hopes of a nation rest in good hands'

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      We asked Guardian readers to share their reactions to the election results and tell us about the issues that decided their vote and their hopes and concerns for the future.Here are the views from eight US voters – four who support Donald Trump and four who voted for Joe Biden.‘I’m almost afraid to hope too much’Honestly, I didn’t support Biden during the primaries. But since I believe that gay people have a right to be married and protection against discrimination; that black people have a right to not get shot by police or discriminated against; that the US should do everything in its power to stop worsening crises from climate change; and that a global pandemic should be dealt with intelligently and swiftly to avoid hundreds of thousands of unnecessary deaths, I think he’s the better candidate.It doesn’t hurt that I believe he will fill his cabinet based on qualifications and not favours owed. With Biden as president, we have a chance of keeping global changes in temperature down. With Trump as president, we had none. I’m worried that at the end of the day, nothing that happens during Biden’s presidency will make a difference, and we’ll continue to bounce back and forth with an increasingly divided country, and an increasingly broken system. I hope that won’t be the case. But I’m almost afraid to hope too much. Sabrina, PhD student, Wisconsin, voted for Biden‘Biden will work very hard to unite us as a nation’The issue most important to me was keeping our imperfect experiment: our democracy. Trump was appearing to be more autocrat than any president in my lifetime. He messed with the post office, the census, the DoJ, used the attorney general like his personal attorney, and spewed hateful rhetoric about minorities and women. I expect our president to be an example of the goodness of the US. I expect him to work with both Republicans and Democrats to improve our nation. I expect our government to work on problems like Covid-19 and not lie and deny as 230,000 people have died.I am tired of seeing large corporations benefit from our tax dollars while one in five children are food insecure. Trump tried to kick 700,000 families off food stamps during a pandemic. Now a case goes before the supreme court to end the ACA, which will end healthcare for millions of people. I want our country to help ourselves first, other nations second, and large corporations rarely. I think Trump has hurt our country more than any other president in our history. Joe Biden will work very hard to unite us as a nation, which we sorely need right now. He has plans to work on the Covid-19 crisis first.Open our economy back up with good paying jobs. Force corporations to keep their production in the US and fine them if they refuse. Susan, Florida, voted for Biden‘I worry the Democrats will dive further rightwards’Though I was aggrieved that Biden emerged above more progressive candidates, I nonetheless have always admired his empathy and forthright approach to politics. As the months passed between March and November, I realized that he was precisely the sort of person who is needed at this point in the nation’s history, who can speak plainly and warmly, without self-aggrandizement or deliberate obfuscation. I hope we may see America return to being a proactive leader (or at least participant) in global affairs, beginning with climate change but extending also to unrest across the world. I expect the Biden-Harris administration will rejoin the Paris climate accords and the Iran nuclear agreement, as well as put in place national standards and practices to immediately tackle the spread of the coronavirus.I hope we may see America return to being a proactive leader in global affairsI am extremely concerned with the lingering resentment and sense of isolation felt by supporters of the current president, a sentiment which has erupted into violence before and may do again, as people appear to believe that anything other than laissez-faire policies and total dedication to the police is sufficient cause for revolution. I worry also that the Democratic party, as currently led by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, will dive further rightwards in an attempt to appeal to the rightwing elements of this country, a move that will assuredly lead to fewer Democratic senators and members of Congress as well as a weakening of the current drive for broader progressive policies such as the Green New Deal and Medicare for all. Matthew, teacher, Minnesota, voted for Biden‘I expect that coronavirus will be taken seriously’My father fought at Normandy. He didn’t risk his life for a nation where the president disrespects the rule of law. I remembered those who were drowned, lynched, burned alive, beaten to death or shot to death during the civil rights movement. We could not allow their memories to be further disrespected. I think about my children and grandchildren. They deserved to inherit a better America than that of the last four years. When the president and vice-president-elect appeared, it was almost a sacred moment. The hopes of a nation rest in good hands. Now I expect the restoration of civil discourse. I expect that coronavirus will be taken seriously. I expect a president who understands systemic racism is real. I won’t like everything Biden does. But I feel like this. When President Roosevelt died, a man was crying uncontrollably. Someone asked: “Did you know him personally?” The man said: “No, I did not know him. But he knew me.” Joe Biden knows me. Anthony, retired, Delaware, voted for Biden‘Trump kept our country moving forward’It’s a shame how biased our media is. Trump has done so many amazing things for Americans that have never been reported by media. Trump kept our country moving forward. I had more money in my paycheck and my medical benefits were better than under Obama. He’s trying to make the US not dependent on China. I am appalled that Americans are so uneducated they let the celebrities and media tell them who to vote for. If you ask someone that voted for Biden and what his policies are … uniting Americans? Stopping corona? OK. How? Trump made good on campaign promises. He truly cares about Americans and is not a lifelong politician. I‘m scared for my college kids. I’m afraid they won’t be able to find jobs and prosper after all their hard work. However, we have a strong faith so I just keep praying. Stephanie, teacher, Pennsylvania, voted for Trump More

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      One week on: how Trump handled losing the US election – video report

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      From making baseless claims of voter fraud to false declarations of victory, Donald Trump has been criticised for undermining democracy through his refusal to concede the US election. Joe Biden became the president-elect after several days of vote counting, and when the race was called for the former vice-president, Trump sent out several angry tweets – without any evidence – alleging vote count irregularities and is still yet to speak out publicly or call Biden to acknowledge the result
      President-elect says ‘This is the time to heal’ in victory speech
      The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes – video highlights More