December 14, 2020

A Victorious Joe Biden Slams Trump, but Urges Unity

“Democracy prevailed,” he says, in first official comments as president-elect.

Biden Transition TV/CNP/Zuma

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Following Monday’s Electoral College vote, President-elect Joe Biden took the stage in Wilmington, Delaware, to extol the democratic institutions that secured his victory, and to condemn Donald Trump’s futile attempts to overturn the election results. “What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this: democracy,” Biden said, standing before a screen printed with the words “Office of the President Elect.”

“The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago, and we now know nothing, not even a pandemic or an abuse of power, can extinguish that flame,” he added.

Biden summarized the court battles Trump has pursued—unsuccessfully—for the past five weeks, and thanked the judges and public officials who refused to engage in the lame-duck president’s shenanigans. He pointed out that he won the Electoral College by the same margin Trump did in 2016 (not counting the faithless electors who turned their backs on Trump four years ago), indicating a “clear victory.”

Still, he proffered a message of unity, vowing to get all Americans vaccinated and back to work. “In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” Biden said. “We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact. And now it’s time to turn the page as we’ve done throughout our history, to unite, to heal.”

Biden’s remarks begin at 9:40 below:

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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