Donald Trump and Joe Biden finally make peace

The President told reporters he had invited the president-elect to lunch and would ensure a smooth transition.

Joe Biden walks out of the Oval Office to the Rose Garden. Picture: AFP

Donald Trump and his one-time nemesis Joe Biden have enacted a political detente to smooth the way for the Republican’s return to the Oval Office, as the president-elect starts assembling his new team and faces a fight with the Federal Reserve on day one of his second administration.

In his first moves since his extraordinary comeback, Mr Trump has named his most powerful ­adviser, Susie Wiles, as the first woman to run the White House and doubled down on his plan to deport millions of illegal immigrants and create a new legal border system for the US.

“We obviously have to make the border strong and powerful and … at the same time, we want people to come into our country,” he said, adding that there was “no price tag” too high to achieve his plans deportation plans.

“And you know, I’m not somebody that says, ‘No, you can’t come in.’ We want people to come in.”

But in a sign of the headwinds facing the president-elect, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell on Thursday (Friday AEDT) declared he would refuse to resign if pushed to by Mr Trump after months of criticisms on the central bank’s handling of inflation and monetary policy. Despite being appointed by Mr Trump when he was last in office, Mr Powell has been pummelled by his former promoter for raising interest rates when he was last in office, and then cutting them on the eve of this week’s election.

Mr Powell answered with one word when he was asked twice if he would stand aside if Mr Trump insisted: “No.”

“Not permitted under the law,” the top central banker said, offering a definitive interpretation of US law that, somewhat vaguely, allows a president to sack a Fed chairman “for cause”.

The potential for a clash with the central bank underlined the ­institutional hurdles Mr Trump will face trying to enact his MAGA agenda when he takes back power in January, even if Republicans manage to win control of both houses of congress, which appears likely as counting continued.

Republicans have been declared the winner in 211 seats in the 435-seat chamber, just seven shy of a majority, while Democrats have won 199 seats so far, with two dozen remaining to be declared. The New York Times predicts ­Republicans will ultimately prevail with at least 220 seats.

Mr Trump started assembling his new cabinet with the appointment of Ms Wiles as his chief of staff. The White House chief of staff plays the role of the president’s gatekeeper and the more powerful ones have been considered almost equal to prime ministers. While Mr Trump went through multiple chiefs of staff in his first term, Ms Wiles, considered tough but shy, is close to him, his family and is credited with leading the billionaire’s most disciplined presidential campaign.

During his victory address at the Palm Beach Convention Centre on Tuesday night, Ms Wiles awkwardly declined to address the crowd after Mr Trump called on her on the stage, coaxing fellow top adviser Chris LaCivita to speak instead.

As he faced being relegated to a footnote in history after serving only one term and handing back power to the man he called a “threat to democracy”, a surprisingly chipper-looking Joe Biden told reporters he had invited Mr Trump to lunch and would ensure a smooth transition.

“You can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbour only when you agree,” he said, promising to ensure a “peaceful and orderly transition of power” for Mr Trump, whom he had assailed as an existential threat to US democracy.

“I also hope we can lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent, and it can be trusted, win or lose.”

Mr Trump told NBC News that he had accepted the invitation to lunch and said he had “very nice calls” with both the President and his vanquished election rival, ­Kamala Harris

Meanwhile, intense jostling has begun to secure coveted cabinet and other senior position in the incoming administration, including a public swipe by new-found Trump confidant Robert F. Kennedy Jr at Republican senator Marco Rubio, whom the former Democrats said shouldn’t be ­appointed secretary of state as he was too “neo-con”.