Joe Biden’s US election win looks more impressive by the day
Donald Trump’s failure to accept defeat proves he was never up to the job in the first place.
Ten days after the US election, Donald Trump is still refusing to accept that he lost clearly and convincingly in the electoral college and the popular vote, and has not conceded to Joe Biden.
This is Trump the authoritarian refusing to accept the democratic will of the people. It is a dangerous moment for the US. It is what happens in tin-pot dictatorships and despotic regimes, not in the great republic of the US. It is beyond belief that some of Trump’s conservative supporters, including in Australia, turn a blind eye to his attempt to deny the democratic right of the majority of Americans to determine their president.
The election result was evident a week ago. Yet some boasted that Trump had actually won. They then claimed that even though he had lost, he actually had a strong result. Or, even more delusional, that the outcome was still not clear because of litigation and recounts.
Conservatives once championed democracy. They defended and protected institutions. They insisted on safeguarding freedom and liberty guaranteed by, among other things, the right to vote, freedom of the media and the separation of powers within governing structures.
Biden’s victory looks more and more remarkable as more votes have been counted and reported. He defeated an incumbent president — an achievement shared only with Franklin Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton in the past century.
He won states with a diversity of mainstream voters across the country. The blue-wall states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were regained. Biden chalked up big wins on the east and west coasts, which traditionally vote Democratic. And he won extraordinary victories in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada in the sun belt.
The popular vote total and margin is often overlooked because it does not determine elections. Nevertheless, a clear majority of voters chose Biden over Trump. Thus far, Biden has won 77.7 million votes to Trump’s 72.5 million — a difference of more than five million, which will continue to grow.
Biden’s 50.8 per cent of the vote to Trump’s 47.4 per cent is a bigger margin than Hillary Clinton achieved in 2016. Trump lost the popular vote twice. Biden’s vote share could reach 52 per cent. It is already a bigger vote lead than winning candidates in 2004, 2000, 1976, 1968 and 1960.
Moreover, Biden’s total share of the popular vote is also likely to be greater than that achieved by Barack Obama in 2012, George W. Bush in 2004, Bill Clinton in 1996 and 1992, Reagan in 1980 and Carter in 1976.
In 2016, Trump won 306 electoral college votes but achieved only 304 due to faithless voters. Biden is on track for 306 electoral college votes. While some states were close, on both sides, Biden won the mid-west states by larger margins than Trump did four years ago. Trump falsely described his election win as a “landslide”. Well, Biden’s “landslide” is therefore even greater.
The bottom line is that, while not a landslide, Biden achieved a more significant and larger victory than Trump did four years ago. This augurs well for Biden’s presidency even though the US remains divided and politically polarised.
Bush — the previous Republican president — made an important statement this week. He phoned Biden and vice-president-elect Kamala Harris and congratulated them on their election victory. He said Biden was “a good man” and Harris’s election was historic. He also congratulated Trump and his supporters for their “hard-fought campaign” and said their voices would be heard. He noted their “extraordinary political achievement” in earning the votes of more than 70 million Americans.
This generous statement towards the victor and the vanquished was then followed by an unequivocal message that although Trump was entitled to pursue recounts and legal challenges, it did not alter the result, which was that Biden had won fairly and squarely.
“The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear,” Bush said from Crawford, Texas. “We must come together for the sake of our families and neighbours, and for our nation and its future.”
The consequences of Trump denying the election result is immediate. There is no orderly transfer of power taking place. There has been no traditional meeting between the incoming and outgoing presidents, or the vice president and vice president-elect, at the White House. This is always important for unifying the country and legitimising the election result.
The US congress funds a transition team for candidates. This enables the incoming administration to prepare to take office at midday on January 20. Detailed briefings take place, policy books are exchanged and meetings are held between both campaigns. Trump has refused to co-operate.
He has also denied Biden access to the President’s daily brief, which includes high-level intelligence. As a defence and strategic ally of the US, this should be concerning to Australia. It underscores Trump’s serial smashing of norms and conventions that are critical to the running of good government.
Trump will probably never accept defeat. Nor is he likely to attend Biden’s inauguration. Will he willingly depart the White House? That this is even in doubt confirms that Trump was not up to the job of being president and by refusing to transfer power now undermines the democratic processes that put him there in the first place.
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