President Joe Biden appeared in high spirits as he addressed the nation following President-elect Trump’s landslide victory.
“We accept the choice the country made,” Biden said Thursday in the Rose Garden.
“I’ve said many times you can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree. Something I hope we can do, no matter who you voted for, to see each other, not as adversaries,” he continued.
Biden also encouraged Americans to bring down the temperature of rhetoric. In the final weeks of the campaign, Harris called Trump a threat to democracy and a “fascist.”
“As fellow Americans, bring down the temperature,” he said.
Biden also tried to use the speech to justify his win in 2020. Biden appears to have won about 20 million more votes than Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I also hope we can later rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system,” he said. “It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent, and it can be trusted, win or lose.”
Before praising Harris’s character, Biden said he already congratulated Trump. “I spoke with President-elect Trump to congratulate him on his victory, and I assured him I direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition.”
Biden also touted his administration as a successful one, even though voters rejected his vice president in a landslide. “Much of the work we’ve done is already being felt by the American people,” he said. “Legislation was passed, and it’s truly historic.”
Biden’s speech comes after Americans widely voted against four more years of Biden’s vice president. Under the Biden-Harris administration, costs increased by about 20 percent across the board, Russia invaded Ukraine, Hamas and Iran attacked Israel, illegal migrants invaded the southern border, and the nation suffered the deadly Afghan withdrawal.
Voters soundly rejected the Biden administration’s unprecedented tactic of waging lawfare against Trump. Never before had a nominee of an American political party been indicted by an administration’s Justice Department.
In addition to his shunned agenda, Biden, who Democrats have praised for stepping aside for Harris, will likely be viewed as a failed president because his chosen successor did not prevent Trump from completing the greatest political comeback in American history. Biden endorsed Harris, campaigned for Harris, and conveyed all his campaign money to Harris.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former RNC War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.