Steve McGookinUpdate: 2.40pm Washington DC time, Saturday Nov 7th
Four days after election day, Joe Biden became the US president-elect after being declared the winner of the state of Pennsylvania. Nevertheless, Donald Trump, who was playing golf at the time of the announcement, would not concede defeat and has vowed to continue his legal challenge to the outcome. Biden and the vice-president-elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in on January 20th, when Biden is set to become either the 46th or 47th President.
Here’s how the news of Biden’s victory broke.
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Update: 8.30am Washington DC time, Saturday Nov 7th.
Nation Frustrated, On Edge As Election Limbo Drags On
Like much of the rest of the country, Joe Biden was expecting the result of the presidential election to be announced by Friday evening, with the ever-growing likelihood that he would be crowned the winner. He was, after all, increasing his lead by the hour in the key state of Pennsylvania, so a speech along with his running mate Kamala Harris was scheduled for primetime.
The definitive declaration didn’t come, however, and the appearance was scrubbed, only for the two to appear on the stage at their campaign headquarters in Delaware a few hours later. As counting continued, the almost-president-elect made a conciliatory appeal for calm and patience, confident in the eventual outcome.
“I know watching these vote tallies on TV moves very slowly, and as slow as it goes, it can be numbing,” Biden said. “But, never forget, the tallies are not just numbers. They represent votes and voters – a record number of Americans of all races, faiths, and religions chose change.”
He closed by saying: “No matter who you voted for, I am certain of one thing. The vast majority of the 150 million Americans who voted, they want to get the vitriol out of our politics. My responsibility as president will be to represent the whole nation.”
The current state of the uncalled races, and Biden’s lead in key states that could put him over the top, suggests a final outcome is within touching distance but with no clear timetable for a conclusion, further frustrating both his supporters and the country as a whole. Election officials in Georgia have already said there will be an automatic recount, so by now it appears to be simply a matter of waiting.
Historian Jon Meachem said on MSNBC that “we don’t settle elections on a TV schedule” (somewhat ironic, when the rush to call states on election night has been driven almost entirely by the TV networks’ need to heighten drama and resolve the process as part of their quadrennial reality show) but the question remains whether President Trump and his supporters will accept defeat when it comes and how the country moves forward in the short and longer term.
Despite the media’s explanations of why the count is taking so long, there is no doubt that the delay has allowed the Trump campaign to ramp up its efforts to sow doubt about the electoral process. Biden had put reconciliation at the center of his candidacy but the extent of the challenge facing him has become apparent in the crowds appearing at the counting centers, protesting what they feel has somehow been an unfair process.
Like it has been for much of the past four years, the president’s rhetoric is not encouraging, and points to still more uncertainty. Last night he tweeted that “Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning!”
As the president’s legal team presses ahead with a number of formal challenges of varying degrees of seriousness, the Associated Press reported that a company run by one of the president’s top campaign officials has been sending out what the AP described as “incendiary texts” to rally Trump supporters.
“ALERT: Radical Liberals & Dems are trying to steal this election from Trump! We need YOU!” the text said, directing recipients to “show your support” on a street corner near the Philadelphia Convention Center where votes were being counted and tensions were running high.”
There have been threats to poll workers after the Trump campaign’s claims of irregularities in the counting process. Two armed men, apparently supporters of QAnon, were intercepted on their way to the Philadelphia counting center with “a truck full of fake ballots,” while a man was arrested in Los Angeles after allegedly threatening to commit a mass shooting in the event that Biden won the presidency.
In an editorial, The Washington Post warned of the dangerous consequences of the behavior of the president and his backers, saying that the nation was at a perilous moment. “Never in modern times has an apparently outgoing president behaved so disgracefully, fanning baseless claims of election fraud rather than preparing to concede, as anyone who cared about democracy would. As President Trump spreads lies, social media lights up with wild conspiracy theories backed by no evidence. Armed protesters are turning up at vote-counting locations. History will remember who, at this dangerous time, helped American democracy — and who helped Mr. Trump undermine American democracy.”
Since he last appeared in public on Thursday evening at the White House and made a series of unsustainable and baseless claims about the status of the election, Trump has continued to flex his executive muscle, with NPR reporting that in the past two days the administration has abruptly removed the heads of three key agencies, while The Hill writes that he is preparing to make changes at the Pentagon.
As the count continues in Pennsylvania, the Mayor of Philadelphia Jim Kenney told the president to “put his big boy pants on” and acknowledge that he is heading for defeat. There were also signs that Rupert Murdoch-owned news organizations, which make up much of Trump’s media diet, were shifting to a position of encouraging him to concede gracefully. The likelihood of that happening still seems remote.
To give the president some credit, though, he did frequently say during the campaign that the country would “stop talking about the Coronavirus on November 4th” and that has certainly been the case, judging by the TV networks. One person who probably is talking about it this morning, though, is his newly-infected White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Meanwhile, the rest of the world looks on, in part mystified by the chaotic intricacies of the process, in part embarrassed for a country whose government increasingly gives the impression of being something of a pantomime.
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Update: 7.15am Washington DC time, Friday Nov 6th.
With Biden on Brink of Victory, Trump Melts Down
One hundred and sixty years ago, on November 6th 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States, setting the stage for the Civil War.
This morning, there are expectations that the current conflict-ridden election campaign may be approaching a conclusion after former Vice-President Joe Biden took a vote lead in the state of Georgia overnight.
Along with Georgia, there are five other uncalled races – Nevada, Arizona, Alaska, North Carolina and – crucially – Pennsylvania, where the counting of mail-in ballots also appears to be giving Biden the momentum to win the state and secure the 270 electoral college votes required to win the presidency.
As the reality of impending defeat closed in on incumbent President Donald Trump he moved into full scorched-earth mode, doubling down on claims of vote fraud and lashing out at his opponents, the electoral system and democracy itself.
In an unhinged but totally predictable appearance on live TV in primetime on Thursday evenng, Trump delivered a litany of falsehoods and unsustainable claims which caused most networks to cut away almost as soon as he had finished his opening sentence.
CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale called it “the most dishonest speech he has ever given,” while at the Washington Post Glenn Kessler dissected the 16-minute address lie by lie.
Even the pro-Trump New York Post called the president’s claims “baseless.”
The Associated Press reported that Trump’s remarks had deepened a sense of anxiety across the country, and that he was “testing how far he can go in using the trappings of presidential power to undermine confidence in the election.”
As vote counting continued through the night on Thursday, the Trump campaign intensified its raft of desperate legal challenges as their supporters gathered at electoral offices in the remaining key states. With some chanting “Stop the Count” and others “Count the Votes” it was a perfect encapsulation of the confusion and anger currently shredding the party, but also hinted at the potential for more dangerous developments.
Some prominent Republicans weighed in to throw their weight behind their leader. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, re-elected South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Texas Senator Ted Cruz all echoed Trump’s evidence-free claims of fraud – it was reported that Graham had donated $500,000 to the president’s “legal defence fund” – but other GOP officials gave signs that they were looking to distance themselves from Trump’s rhetoric.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell remained silent.
In a powerful monologue, an emotional Late Show host Stephen Colbert took Trump’s enablers to task, invoking Edmund Burke: “For evil to succeed, all that is necessary is for good men to do nothing. So say something right now Republicans. When it comes to democracy versus fascism, you need to choose: Donald Trump or the American people.”
It is hard to believe at this point that when Biden eventually crosses the line to an electoral college victory that there will be any kind of formal concession by Trump. Meanwhile the nation remains braced for the sort of chaos and uncertainty that will play into the incumbent’s need to be able to claim that the election was somehow stolen from him.
On the cusp of a new era in American politics, there is a bleak picture of whether a traditional transition period might be possible. Even an important investigation launched yesterday by the Special Counsel’s office into the administration’s use of the White House for campaign events is likely to be small potatoes by the time the inauguration rolls around on January 20.
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Update: 6.30pm Washington DC time, Wednesday Nov 4th
Biden Edges Closer to White House as Trump Turns to Courts
Having broken President Barack Obama’s record for most votes cast for a presidential candidate, former Vice-President Joe Biden was poised to claim the White House on Wednesday evening, with projected victories in Wisconsin and Michigan putting him within touching distance of the required 270 electoral college votes. Speaking at his campaign headquarters in Delaware, Biden said: “After a long night of counting, it’s clear,” he said. “I’m not here to declare that we’ve won, but I am here to report, when the count is finished, we believe we will be the winners.”
An increasingly desperate President Donald Trump meanwhile, his path to victory fast evaporating, turned – as he frequently does – to the courts; beginning what the New York Times described as a “wide-ranging legal assault” to challenge votes in key swing states. His campaign also said it would be seeking a recount of the votes in Wisconsin. Mr Trump had earlier said he would be taking his grievance all the way to the Supreme Court, but it remained unsure exactly what case he might be making.
The president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani also held a press conference in Philadelphia to complain about what he said was vote fraud in the still-to-declare state of Pennsylvania. Ironically, he was interrupted on Fox News by news that Biden had won the state of Michigan.
In an echo of the contested 2000 election, when GOP operatives were mobilized to descend on electoral offices during the Florida recount that eventually saw George W Bush prevail over Al Gore, Trump supporters on Wednesday afternoon arrived at the absentee ballot counting centre in Detroit demanding that counting be stopped. Similar scenes also played out at Nevada’s election department, but this was probably less a Brooks Brothers Riot, more a tantrum by the People of Walmart.
Trump’s legal strategy – if it’s fair to call it that – seems to be headed toward his campaign going down fighting, rather than setting the scene for any kind of an orderly concession. There are also reports that GOP officials are not exactly whole-heartedly behind the president’s behavior.
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Previously: 9.30am Washington DC time, Wednesday Nov 4th
With election in limbo, Trump falsely claims victory
There is, literally, no winner this morning. But it’s not over.
With the outcome of the presidential election still in doubt and likely to remain in limbo for some time, divisions among the American people have been thrown into sharper relief than ever.
Regardless of many pre-election opinion polls, a resounding repudiation of Donald Trump failed to materialize and the president, emboldened by Republicans’ performance in some key congressional contests, moved to seize the narrative as momentum appeared to be moving towards what could be a narrow – if ultimately hollow, should the Senate fail to flip – victory for Joe Biden.
As counting resumed on Wednesday morning, America was digesting the sight of its president falsely claiming victory and calling for an end to the tallying of legitimately-cast votes. Yet all of this is hardly a surprise. Trump had frequently used his campaign rallies to undermine trust in the electoral process, saying that the only way he would lose was “if the election was rigged” and that he would seek legal recourse in the court to which just last week he confirmed a new conservative justice.
And in the small hours of Wednesday morning at the White House, his characteristic bluster revived those threats. As Politico reported:
“In a reality-defying statement Trump said he will ask the US Supreme Court to intervene before ballots are fully counted in the four swing states. Trump currently leads in all of them except Wisconsin, but that was expected because they counted Election Day ballots first, which favored the president. Democrats cast larger numbers of mail-in ballots, which are taking longer to tally. It is unclear how Trump would mount such a legal challenge to stop remaining ballots from being counted. But the threat – combined with the lengthy ballot count – pointed to an unsteady day or days ahead.”
Susan Glasser writes at the New Yorker that the “worst-case scenario is happening” and that while Biden may yet win, Trump’s dangerous rhetoric was a self-fulfilling prophecy. He spent the run-up to the election undermining the results, she writes, and he “declared the contest both the most important in American history and the most crooked – unless he won outright.”
She goes on: “Trump was always a minority President, governing for part of the country in opposition to the rest of it. The shock of his 2016 election upset became its own political rationale and, ultimately, for Trump, the blueprint for his re-election plan. Why do something different when he had defied everyone and won the first time?”
As Democrats panicked, Joe Biden had called for patience while all the votes are counted. “It’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who has won this election,” Biden said. “That’s the decision of the American people.”
But even before the outcome is confirmed, the post-mortems were already starting. Wednesday morning’s Politico Playbook said that Tuesday was “an abject disaster for Democrats in Washington.”
“To imagine the amount of soul searching and explaining the party will have to do after Tuesday is absolutely dizzying. The infighting will be bloody – as it should be. We fielded text after text from Hill Democrats Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning with existential questions about their leadership and the direction of their party.”
Assuming they win, the challenges for a Biden/Harris administration are not just the immediate mess they’ve inherited, but the internal dynamics of a party and particularly younger voters with big expectations that are unlikely to be realized without a change in control of the Senate.
Even if Trump ultimately loses, Trumpism appears to be thriving, in part because Democrats underestimated the fact that the nation’s divisions are no longer along policy lines but largely on cultural ones. The two Americas exist within two different information eco-systems, with fundamentally different bases in fact. That this reality was laid bare during a global health emergency makes what happened yesterday all the more damaging.
If he ends up out of office, Trump himself is probably still more powerful politically than he was at the beginning of the election, with loyal GOP footsoldiers entrenched in an increasingly partisan congress. Republicans identify with him in a way that transcends specifically political or policy considerations – almost in the same way that Democrats did with Barack Obama – to an extent that may preclude compromise or reconciliation and render the nation even more difficult to govern.
The Hill’s Niall Stanage summed up very well where the nation stands in his election morning memo:
“The split in the nation goes deeper than during any other election campaign in living memory. The 2020 contest is not merely a disagreement over normal ideological or policy differences. It’s a zero-sum struggle for victory between two political tribes that increasingly appear to inhabit different universes – and dislike each other intensely.”
One positive dimension, regardless of the outcome, was the surge in turnout – more than 100 million votes were cast early as individual states wrestled with the effects of the pandemic – possibly leading to a change in how people think about the effectiveness of the democratic process, both what’s right with it and what’s wrong. The possible detriment to that greater participation, though, is that young voters especially who felt energized will ultimately be disappointed. How might they react next time?
So, while there may have been no winner this election day, there are certainly plenty of losers.
Opinion pollsters, for example, may have suffered another existential loss of credibility, compounding their performance four years ago.
Trump may well lose the election; Biden may well win, but lose any authority or power to actually govern; the Democrats will have lost a golden opportunity to change the direction of the country, while Republicans will have lost – indeed, voluntarily surrendered – any sense of ideological identity beyond being made in Trump’s image.
For the nation itself, there has been a loss of confidence in its institutions and how it organizes itself and its process of representation. Together, it is far from an inspiring mix of political circumstances as the nation fumbles for how to find a way out of the ongoing effects of the pandemic and rebuild its economy.
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See also:
What to watch for on Election Night
Decisions Are Made By Those Who Turn Up
Northern Slant Hosts The US and us Online Discussion
Supreme Court Fight Set To Dominate Election’s Conclusion
Campaigning for Change From Your Couch
‘Celtic’ Biden’s Call to Irish-America
Also published on Medium.
