Joe Biden labels President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election ‘an embarrassment’
The United States’ (US) President-elect Joe Biden has labelled President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election ‘an embarrassment’, as fears mount over a possibly problematic transition of power.
Biden was speaking in his home state of Delaware when he was asked by a journalist on Tuesday, 10 November 2020, what he thought about Trump’s refusal to accept the election results.
“I just think it’s an embarrassment, quite frankly,” he said.
“The only thing that, how can I say this tactfully, I think it will not help the president’s legacy.”
United States’ (US) President-elect Joe Biden
Biden said regardless of Trump’s stubbornness, the dye had been cast and he will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States (Potus), come January 2021.
“At the end of the day, you know, it’s all going to come to fruition on January 20,” he added.
“And between now and then, the hope and expectation is that the American people do know and do understand there has been a transition.”
United States’ (US) President-elect Joe Biden
On Saturday, 7 November 2020, Biden was unofficially declared the winner in the 2020 US elections, after bagging the state of Pennsylvania to score the 270 Electoral College votes needed.
Majority of Republicans have, like their president, yet to accept the outcome of the polls, with few exceptions. Biden, a former vice president under Barack Obama, implied this was because they were being intimidated by the Trump camp.
“I think that the whole Republican Party has been put in a position, with a few notable exceptions, of being mildly intimidated by the sitting president,” Biden said.
SENIOR GOP LEADER CONGRATULATES BIDEN, CALLS FOR PEACEFUL TRANSITION
GOP lawmaker Tom Reed is one of very few in the party, to congratulate Biden on his victory and also call for a peaceful transition of power – a move which will likely draw backlash.
“Joe Biden has rightfully earned the title of being the projected president-elect and that should be (recognised),” he said.
“If the evidence is not there, then I think it’s incumbent upon us as a Republican Party and the president himself to recognize that what we pride ourselves [on] in America is a peaceful transition of power”
Trump has launched legal bids in a number of states to challenge the validity of the election results and alleging widespread electoral fraud at the hands of Democrats, seeking to overturn his policies.
