theguardian--2020-11-07--Behind the bluster, Trump was beatable and Biden was the man to do it | Richard Wolffe

It is time , after all these many hours of anxious vote counting , to revise the snap judgments that constitute The Political Lessons of the 2020 Election .
Among the many mirages of the last four years , few seemed so lifelike and so tangible as the notion that Donald Trump might just be on to something .
It was repeated so loudly , so many times , by so many people , that it was surely plausible .
Trump appeared to understand something about the people that the rest of the political class could never fathom .
His @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that nothing – not his impeachment , not his abuse of migrant children , not his disregard for a pandemic – would get in the way .
In the immediate hours after the polls closed on Tuesday , that storyline was turbocharged because the instant result didn ’ t match Democratic expectations .
But when you lose a presidential election by around four points and maybe 5m votes , you have definitively lost the debate about connecting with voters .
The 2020 election should bury this – the biggest lie of the lie-plagued @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reputation of Trumpism .
There ’ s no demagogue quite like a sad , defeated demagogue .
There ’ s no strongman quite like a weakman .
And there ’ s no populism without popular appeal .
Many progressives watched Tuesday ’ s results in dismay , believing that anything short of a Biden blowout was the equivalent of a Trump victory .
But unseating an incumbent president is not easy : only four sitting presidents lost their bids for a second term in the last 120 years .
Defeat is defeat , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ politics .
Biden is heading for a final victory of the same kind of margins by which Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in 2012 , and Bill Clinton beat George HW Bush in 1992 .
Nobody called those narrow results in an evenly divided nation .
Biden has already won more votes than any other presidential candidate in American history .
Trumpism was never popular .
It never won the popular vote .
It didn ’ t lead to a wave of populist extreme-right victories across the world .
Like Brexit , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tempted to follow a fact-free journey into fantasy politics .
Flirting with fascism and scorning the constitution did not , in fact , spark a movement of lunatic leaders doing the same .
Trump was a disastrous president and a worse candidate .
He fanned the grievances of an older , whiter , more male , less educated minority .
That ’ s not a winning coalition .
He underperformed his own party on Tuesday , which is exceptional in presidential politics .
He couldn ’ t speak to how he would heal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ couldn ’ t show basic empathy towards the families of more than 220,000 victims of Covid .
He couldn ’ t control himself in his first debate against Joe Biden .
He couldn ’ t come up with an agenda for a second term in office .
He couldn ’ t even stop blabbing his mouth about how he wanted to steal the election .
Maybe , just maybe , he could have squeaked another victory by challenging all those mail-in ballots from Democrats trying to avoid a pandemic .
Instead , he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early in person .
Trump was always his own worst enemy .
Worse , he knew what was coming and was cackhanded in dealing with it , just like the pandemic .
The suburbs , and especially suburban women , turned against Trump and his fellow Republicans in the congressional elections two years ago .
That led to a blue wave that swept Nancy Pelosi into the House speaker ’ s office , effectively ending Trump ’ s chance to pass any meaningful legislation for half his presidency .
Looking at these awful @ @ @ @ @ @ @ literally but not seriously .
“ So can I ask you to do me a favor , suburban women , ” he asked voters in Johnstown , Pennsylvania , last month .
“ Will you please like me ?
Please .
Please .
I saved your damn neighborhood , OK ?
” What ’ s not to like ?
After six months of scare tactics about the destruction of their homes , the suburbs soundly rejected the entire heap of political manure .
If the voters in swing states truly loved Trumpism , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump ?
Perhaps they split their votes between a Democratic president and Republican congressional candidates because they were simply Republicans for Biden and wanted a check on Democratic power .
Still , Trumpism will survive the loss of Trump .
Even in defeat , there are Republicans who believe there are enough Trumpers out there , and their modest wins in the House – combined with a deadlocked Senate – will lead them to stay the course .
The relatively close nature of election night – because of the delay in counting votes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comes with the white supremacist dream of Making America Great Again .
Like Peronism in Argentina , the magic formula of fascism is a taste that is never fully forgotten .
There ’ s a reason why Primo Levi wrote about surviving Auschwitz as a warning to future generations about hating foreigners .
Fascism , he said , was a “ latent infection ” waiting to re-emerge .
With Donald Trump , it has infected large parts of America and the world , and it will re-infect us again .
But not for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ President-elect Biden battles against a real infection and a Senate whose balance of power probably won ’ t be known until Georgia decides in January .
That will lead to mounting frustration for voters on all sides , but especially the wave of young voters expecting structural change from a Biden presidency .
Before we get to the primary contests of 2024 , we need to admit our mistakes in this cycle as the chattering class of supposedly smart and connected political brains .
Yes , the polls were extraordinarily wrong , but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fatally flawed .
Four years ago we were colossally wrong about Trump ’ s ability to fluke a win in the electoral college .
But just 12 months ago we were vastly more wrong about Joe Biden ’ s abilities as a presidential candidate who could not just win the nomination , but run a supremely successful campaign in the most challenging circumstances since the second world war .
Biden was disciplined in a way that was never visible in his previous presidential campaigns , or even the vice-presidency .
For a candidate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ everything from Irish poets to the cold war , there was no expectation that he could distill a winning message and stick to it .
Yet that ’ s what Biden did .
He crafted an entirely Bidenesque frame about battling for the soul of the nation .
He chose not to respond to every crazy tweet that passed through Trump ’ s thumbs .
He avoided the traditional campaign strategy of big rallies and door-knocking canvassers to stop the spread of Covid – at considerable cost to his election-day tallies .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his sense of politics in the rust belt states was far sharper than the supposedly populist president who said he would magically bring back manufacturing jobs .
Early on election day , Joe Biden visited his childhood home in Scranton and wrote on the living room wall : “ From this house to the White House by the Grace of God.
” As the polls closed on Tuesday , CNN ’ s reporters admitted they didn ’ t know if Trump had written anything on the walls of the White House .
Let @ @ @ @ @ @ @ smear the walls of the White House any more than he has already defaced the institution .
That ’ s what the next several days look like , as the election results are officially tabulated and Trump continues to dump on the democratic process of counting the votes .
That ’ s also the kind of transition you can expect from a president who didn ’ t even take part in the official transition when he won the contest four years ago .
Trump leaves the White House as he entered it : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The triumph of the 2020 election is not just Joe Biden ’ s .
It ’ s the survival of our weakened democracy , and the hope that it can be rebuilt as rapidly as it was corrupted .

It is time, after all these many hours of anxious vote counting, to revise the snap judgments that constitute The Political Lessons of the 2020 Election.
Among the many mirages of the last four years, few seemed so lifelike and so tangible as the notion that Donald Trump might just be on to something.
It was repeated so loudly, so many times, by so many people, that it was surely plausible. Trump appeared to understand something about the people that the rest of the political class could never fathom. His populism was such a force of nature that nothing – not his impeachment, not his abuse of migrant children, not his disregard for a pandemic – would get in the way.
In the immediate hours after the polls closed on Tuesday, that storyline was turbocharged because the instant result didn’t match Democratic expectations.
But when you lose a presidential election by around four points and maybe 5m votes, you have definitively lost the debate about connecting with voters.
The 2020 election should bury this – the biggest lie of the lie-plagued Trump era – along with the electoral reputation of Trumpism.
There’s no demagogue quite like a sad, defeated demagogue. There’s no strongman quite like a weakman. And there’s no populism without popular appeal.
Many progressives watched Tuesday’s results in dismay, believing that anything short of a Biden blowout was the equivalent of a Trump victory. But unseating an incumbent president is not easy: only four sitting presidents lost their bids for a second term in the last 120 years.
Defeat is defeat, not just for Trump but for his politics. Biden is heading for a final victory of the same kind of margins by which Barack Obama beat Mitt Romney in 2012, and Bill Clinton beat George HW Bush in 1992. Nobody called those narrow results in an evenly divided nation.
Biden has already won more votes than any other presidential candidate in American history.
Trumpism was never popular. It never won the popular vote. It didn’t lead to a wave of populist extreme-right victories across the world. Like Brexit, it served as an object lesson for others tempted to follow a fact-free journey into fantasy politics. Flirting with fascism and scorning the constitution did not, in fact, spark a movement of lunatic leaders doing the same.
Trump was a disastrous president and a worse candidate. He fanned the grievances of an older, whiter, more male, less educated minority. That’s not a winning coalition. He underperformed his own party on Tuesday, which is exceptional in presidential politics.
He couldn’t speak to how he would heal the nation figuratively or literally. He couldn’t show basic empathy towards the families of more than 220,000 victims of Covid. He couldn’t control himself in his first debate against Joe Biden. He couldn’t come up with an agenda for a second term in office.
He couldn’t even stop blabbing his mouth about how he wanted to steal the election. Maybe, just maybe, he could have squeaked another victory by challenging all those mail-in ballots from Democrats trying to avoid a pandemic. Instead, he drove record numbers of Democrats to vote early in person. Trump was always his own worst enemy.
Worse, he knew what was coming and was cackhanded in dealing with it, just like the pandemic. The suburbs, and especially suburban women, turned against Trump and his fellow Republicans in the congressional elections two years ago. That led to a blue wave that swept Nancy Pelosi into the House speaker’s office, effectively ending Trump’s chance to pass any meaningful legislation for half his presidency.
After six months of scare tactics about the destruction of their homes, the suburbs soundly rejected the entire heap of political manure
Looking at these awful numbers, Trump took the political shift literally but not seriously. “So can I ask you to do me a favor, suburban women,” he asked voters in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, last month. “Will you please like me? Please. Please. I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?”
What’s not to like? After six months of scare tactics about the destruction of their homes, the suburbs soundly rejected the entire heap of political manure.
If the voters in swing states truly loved Trumpism, why didn’t they vote for Trump? Perhaps they split their votes between a Democratic president and Republican congressional candidates because they were simply Republicans for Biden and wanted a check on Democratic power.
Still, Trumpism will survive the loss of Trump. Even in defeat, there are Republicans who believe there are enough Trumpers out there, and their modest wins in the House – combined with a deadlocked Senate – will lead them to stay the course.
The relatively close nature of election night – because of the delay in counting votes – reinforced the feeling of greatness that comes with the white supremacist dream of Making America Great Again. Like Peronism in Argentina, the magic formula of fascism is a taste that is never fully forgotten.
There’s a reason why Primo Levi wrote about surviving Auschwitz as a warning to future generations about hating foreigners. Fascism, he said, was a “latent infection” waiting to re-emerge. With Donald Trump, it has infected large parts of America and the world, and it will re-infect us again.
But not for the next four years, even as President-elect Biden battles against a real infection and a Senate whose balance of power probably won’t be known until Georgia decides in January. That will lead to mounting frustration for voters on all sides, but especially the wave of young voters expecting structural change from a Biden presidency.
Before we get to the primary contests of 2024, we need to admit our mistakes in this cycle as the chattering class of supposedly smart and connected political brains. Yes, the polls were extraordinarily wrong, but our understanding of the candidates was also fatally flawed.
Four years ago we were colossally wrong about Trump’s ability to fluke a win in the electoral college. But just 12 months ago we were vastly more wrong about Joe Biden’s abilities as a presidential candidate who could not just win the nomination, but run a supremely successful campaign in the most challenging circumstances since the second world war.
Biden was disciplined in a way that was never visible in his previous presidential campaigns, or even the vice-presidency. For a candidate who could ramble on stage endlessly about everything from Irish poets to the cold war, there was no expectation that he could distill a winning message and stick to it.
His so-called basement strategy worked. And his sense of politics in the rust belt states was far sharper than the president's
Yet that’s what Biden did. He crafted an entirely Bidenesque frame about battling for the soul of the nation. He chose not to respond to every crazy tweet that passed through Trump’s thumbs. He avoided the traditional campaign strategy of big rallies and door-knocking canvassers to stop the spread of Covid – at considerable cost to his election-day tallies.
But his so-called basement strategy worked. And his sense of politics in the rust belt states was far sharper than the supposedly populist president who said he would magically bring back manufacturing jobs.
Early on election day, Joe Biden visited his childhood home in Scranton and wrote on the living room wall: “From this house to the White House by the Grace of God.”
As the polls closed on Tuesday, CNN’s reporters admitted they didn’t know if Trump had written anything on the walls of the White House. Let’s hope he doesn’t smear the walls of the White House any more than he has already defaced the institution.
That’s what the next several days look like, as the election results are officially tabulated and Trump continues to dump on the democratic process of counting the votes. That’s also the kind of transition you can expect from a president who didn’t even take part in the official transition when he won the contest four years ago.
Trump leaves the White House as he entered it: determined to destroy our democratic norms. The triumph of the 2020 election is not just Joe Biden’s. It’s the survival of our weakened democracy, and the hope that it can be rebuilt as rapidly as it was corrupted.


theguardian--2020-11-07--How Georgia, built on legacy of a civil rights titan, finally tilted blue

Downtown Atlanta boarded up when it became clear that Georgia could decide the fate of Donald Trump by just a few thousands votes one way or the other .
The city worried that the president might unleash his well-armed supporters against an unfavourable result or that Trump ’ s opponents might turn out in protest if Georgia ’ s Republican establishment got up to its old shenanigans of fixing elections .
But as the counting dragged on , the streets stayed quieter than usual , although coronavirus had already taken its toll on city life .
When the results finally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lead in Georgia , his supporters held off on the celebrations .
This was the wrong year to tempt fate .
But there was a lot of quiet satisfaction that a state whose most significant role in presidential elections until now was as the home of Jimmy Carter , the 39th president , might prove instrumental in the toppling of the US president .
“ I ’ m glad I voted .
Didn ’ t last time but we needed rid of that guy .
I ’ m proud of Georgia !
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to work at a fast food restaurant an otherwise empty city street early Saturday morning .
That is a widely held sentiment among Trump ’ s opponents who sometimes cast his defeat – although a recount was announced on Friday – in terms of a sweet revenge in a state he won by five points in 2016 .
After trailing for days in the Georgia count , Biden was finally tipped into winning territory by votes from Clayton County , represented in Congress for years by the civil rights titan John Lewis , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in July .
“ I love the idea that Clayton County could put Biden over in GA. That ’ s John Lewis ’ district .
He would do one of his trademark happy dances in heaven .
Symmetry , ” former Senator Claire McCaskill tweeted .
Ben Crump , the lawyer who represents the families of George Floyd , Breonna Taylor and other African Americans killed by police , tweeted a reference to Lewis ’ s mantra of causing “ good trouble ” in the fight for rights .
“ Could this be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ‘ Good Trouble ’ ?
This is ALL thanks to YOU , the Black vote , for flipping this historically red state , ” he wrote .
There is little doubt that the black vote was instrumental in deciding the outcome in a state with a long history of subverting the voting rights of African Americans and where the Confederate battle flag still decorates many rural porches .
If any one person can be credited with delivering the blow against Trump it is Stacey Abrams , the former candidate for state governor who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for , as many in Georgia see it , stealing that election .
In response , she mobilised a cadre of voters to make sure it couldn ’ t happen again , and that has paid off for Biden .
Abrams would have become the first black female governor in the US had she been elected two years ago .
She lost by just 55,000 votes and has never conceded that race , saying an “ erosion of our democracy ” deprived supporters of their right to vote .
Her opponent , Brian @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s secretary of state to remove more than 300,000 people from the voters roll , many on the grounds that they had not voted in three years in the kind of voter suppression that has become a hallmark of some Republican-run states .
Kemp also refused to recuse himself from overseeing the election he was running in .
“ More than 200 years into Georgia ’ s democratic experiment , the state failed its voters , ” Abrams said after the election .
“ Eight years of systemic disenfranchisement , disinvestment and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ electoral process in Georgia.
” Abrams , who Biden considered as his vice-presidential running mate , responded by building on her work to register new voters and fight voter suppression through a network of groups that raised tens of millions of dollars .
She recognised the shifting demographics of Georgia and focused part of her campaign on what were once almost exclusively white suburbs of cities such as Atlanta but are now home to a black middle class that has grown significantly in recent years .
Supporters credit Abrams with generating hundreds of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ among minorities and those who rarely went to the polls – plenty more than the few thousand Biden now leads by in Georgia .
One of Abrams ’ groups , Fair Fight Action , sued in a federal court to stop Republicans purging voters , winning the reinstatement of 22,000 people to the rolls .
“ I , for one , feel she would be our governor if it were not for the rampant voter suppression tactics , ” Nikema Williams , the state ’ s Democratic party chair , told the New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she did in organising people on the ground , in coalition with other progressive organisations , was critical to building the infrastructure in this state.
” On Tuesday , that organising helped elect Williams to the Congressional seat previously held by Lewis .
It also paid off for Biden .
Abrams tweeted her delight at the result , saying : “ My heart is full .
”

Downtown Atlanta boarded up when it became clear that Georgia could decide the fate of Donald Trump by just a few thousands votes one way or the other.
The city worried that the president might unleash his well-armed supporters against an unfavourable result or that Trump’s opponents might turn out in protest if Georgia’s Republican establishment got up to its old shenanigans of fixing elections.
But as the counting dragged on, the streets stayed quieter than usual, although coronavirus had already taken its toll on city life. When the results finally began to put Joe Biden in the lead in Georgia, his supporters held off on the celebrations. This was the wrong year to tempt fate.
But there was a lot of quiet satisfaction that a state whose most significant role in presidential elections until now was as the home of Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, might prove instrumental in the toppling of the US president.
“I’m glad I voted. Didn’t last time but we needed rid of that guy. I’m proud of Georgia!” said Martin Williams, on his way to work at a fast food restaurant an otherwise empty city street early Saturday morning.
That is a widely held sentiment among Trump’s opponents who sometimes cast his defeat – although a recount was announced on Friday – in terms of a sweet revenge in a state he won by five points in 2016.
After trailing for days in the Georgia count, Biden was finally tipped into winning territory by votes from Clayton County, represented in Congress for years by the civil rights titan John Lewis, a fierce critic of Trump who died in July.
“I love the idea that Clayton County could put Biden over in GA. That’s John Lewis’ district. He would do one of his trademark happy dances in heaven. Symmetry,” former Senator Claire McCaskill tweeted.
Ben Crump, the lawyer who represents the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other African Americans killed by police, tweeted a reference to Lewis’s mantra of causing “good trouble” in the fight for rights.
Stacey Abrams, who came close to becoming the first black female state governor in the US two years ago, campaigning in Georgia last week. Photograph: Brandon Bell/Reuters
“Could this be John Lewis looking down and giving Trump ‘Good Trouble’? This is ALL thanks to YOU, the Black vote, for flipping this historically red state,” he wrote.
There is little doubt that the black vote was instrumental in deciding the outcome in a state with a long history of subverting the voting rights of African Americans and where the Confederate battle flag still decorates many rural porches.
If any one person can be credited with delivering the blow against Trump it is Stacey Abrams, the former candidate for state governor who took her revenge on the Republican establishment for, as many in Georgia see it, stealing that election. In response, she mobilised a cadre of voters to make sure it couldn’t happen again, and that has paid off for Biden.
Abrams would have become the first black female governor in the US had she been elected two years ago. She lost by just 55,000 votes and has never conceded that race, saying an “erosion of our democracy” deprived supporters of their right to vote.
Her opponent, Brian Kemp, used his position as Georgia’s secretary of state to remove more than 300,000 people from the voters roll, many on the grounds that they had not voted in three years in the kind of voter suppression that has become a hallmark of some Republican-run states. Kemp also refused to recuse himself from overseeing the election he was running in.
“More than 200 years into Georgia’s democratic experiment, the state failed its voters,” Abrams said after the election. “Eight years of systemic disenfranchisement, disinvestment and incompetence had its desired effect on the electoral process in Georgia.”
Abrams, who Biden considered as his vice-presidential running mate, responded by building on her work to register new voters and fight voter suppression through a network of groups that raised tens of millions of dollars.
She recognised the shifting demographics of Georgia and focused part of her campaign on what were once almost exclusively white suburbs of cities such as Atlanta but are now home to a black middle class that has grown significantly in recent years.
Supporters credit Abrams with generating hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations, particularly among minorities and those who rarely went to the polls – plenty more than the few thousand Biden now leads by in Georgia.
One of Abrams’ groups, Fair Fight Action, sued in a federal court to stop Republicans purging voters, winning the reinstatement of 22,000 people to the rolls.
“I, for one, feel she would be our governor if it were not for the rampant voter suppression tactics,” Nikema Williams, the state’s Democratic party chair, told the New York Times. “The work that she did in organising people on the ground, in coalition with other progressive organisations, was critical to building the infrastructure in this state.”
On Tuesday, that organising helped elect Williams to the Congressional seat previously held by Lewis. It also paid off for Biden.
Abrams tweeted her delight at the result, saying: “My heart is full.”


theguardian--2020-11-07--The three counties in three states that were the touchstones for the election

This county , the state ’ s most populous with more than 1.5 million inhabitants , is coterminous with the city of Philadelphia .
Residents cast about 750,000 votes in the election , favouring Biden over Trump by 81 % -18 % .
It was 30,000 pro-Biden votes from the county , declared at about 9am on Friday , that overturned Trump ’ s state-wide lead , which on Tuesday night had looked impregnable .
The shift , potentially worth 20 electoral college votes , added vital momentum to the Democratic candidate ’ s push for the White House .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Black Lives Matter movement – it is about 43 % African American and 45 % white .
Supporters were involved in protests against the police killings of George Floyd in Minnesota and a local man , Walter Wallace , who was shot in October .
Trump repeatedly dismissed nationwide BLM protests , insulted and mocked demonstrators , and sent troops to suppress them .
Now they paid him back .
Exit polls show African-Americans in Pennsylvania , representing 8 % of all voters , backed Biden by 92 % -6 % .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ all voters , backed him by 78 % -18 % .
Although the two minorities ’ total numbers were relatively small , so was Biden ’ s margin of victory .
Located in the greater Atlanta area , this county forms part of the 5th Congressional District , which was represented from 1987 , until his death in July , by the Democratic congressman , John Lewis , the renowned civil rights leader .
Fulton and DeKalb counties also belong to the 5th District , which is majority African-American and comprises almost three-quarters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s largest .
Three former presidents , Bill Clinton , George W Bush and Barack Obama , attended Lewis ’ s funeral , where Obama delivered a powerful eulogy .
But Trump snubbed the event and was slow to pay tribute , appearing to ignore or dismiss Lewis ’ s contribution to racial justice .
It ’ s fair to say his absence caused great offence , and not only among African-Americans .
Those voters may have gained their revenge last week .
Early on Friday , 917 votes from Clayton gave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time .
Overall , Clayton county backed Biden by 85 % to 14 % for Trump .
DeKalb followed suit , by 83 % to 15 % .
Exit polls showed that black people in Georgia , comprising 30 % of the population , backed Biden by 87 % to 11 % .
Last week , Democrat Nikema Williams was elected for the 5th District .
Trump ’ s vendetta against John McCain , the popular Republican senator from Arizona , infuriated many people in the state .
McCain , a Vietnam war @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a favourite son unafraid to criticise the president .
In return , Trump repeatedly insulted him .
Partly as a result , another local hero , the former astronaut and Democrat , Mark Kelly , will now fill McCain ’ s Senate seat after emerging victorious last week .
Kelly ’ s wife is the former Democratic congresswoman , Gabby Giffords , who was shot in 2011 .
Giffords represented the 8th Congressional District , centred on Maricopa County .
Maricopa , with 62 % of the state ’ s population , is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
In short , Maricopa is vital for any presidential candidate who wants to win Arizona .
Yet Trump managed to alienate county residents to the extent that they voted last week for a Democratic senator and for Joe Biden by 51 % to 47 % – more than enough to flip the state .
At least 1,912,000 Maricopa voters turned against Trump , including Hispanic/Latinos by about 2 to 1 .
About 47 % of white voters went for Biden .
It was a remarkable turnaround in a once-famed Republican stronghold – @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .

Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
This county, the state’s most populous with more than 1.5 million inhabitants, is coterminous with the city of Philadelphia. Residents cast about 750,000 votes in the election, favouring Biden over Trump by 81%-18%. It was 30,000 pro-Biden votes from the county, declared at about 9am on Friday, that overturned Trump’s state-wide lead, which on Tuesday night had looked impregnable.
The shift, potentially worth 20 electoral college votes, added vital momentum to the Democratic candidate’s push for the White House. The county is at the heart of the Black Lives Matter movement – it is about 43% African American and 45% white. Supporters were involved in protests against the police killings of George Floyd in Minnesota and a local man, Walter Wallace, who was shot in October.
Trump repeatedly dismissed nationwide BLM protests, insulted and mocked demonstrators, and sent troops to suppress them. Now they paid him back. Exit polls show African-Americans in Pennsylvania, representing 8% of all voters, backed Biden by 92%-6%. The Hispanic/Latino community, 4% of all voters, backed him by 78%-18%. Although the two minorities’ total numbers were relatively small, so was Biden’s margin of victory.
Clayton County, Georgia
Trump’s treatment of congressman John Lewis upset many voters in Clayton County. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
Located in the greater Atlanta area, this county forms part of the 5th Congressional District, which was represented from 1987, until his death in July, by the Democratic congressman, John Lewis, the renowned civil rights leader.
Fulton and DeKalb counties also belong to the 5th District, which is majority African-American and comprises almost three-quarters of the city of Atlanta, Georgia’s largest.
Three former presidents, Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Barack Obama, attended Lewis’s funeral, where Obama delivered a powerful eulogy. But Trump snubbed the event and was slow to pay tribute, appearing to ignore or dismiss Lewis’s contribution to racial justice.
It’s fair to say his absence caused great offence, and not only among African-Americans. Those voters may have gained their revenge last week. Early on Friday, 917 votes from Clayton gave Biden a state-wide lead for the first time. Overall, Clayton county backed Biden by 85% to 14% for Trump. DeKalb followed suit, by 83% to 15%. Exit polls showed that black people in Georgia, comprising 30% of the population, backed Biden by 87% to 11%. Last week, Democrat Nikema Williams was elected for the 5th District.
Maricopa County, Arizona
Arizona senator John McCain was insulted repeatedly by Trump. Photograph: ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images
Trump’s vendetta against John McCain, the popular Republican senator from Arizona, infuriated many people in the state. McCain, a Vietnam war veteran who died in 2018, was a favourite son unafraid to criticise the president. In return, Trump repeatedly insulted him.
Partly as a result, another local hero, the former astronaut and Democrat, Mark Kelly, will now fill McCain’s Senate seat after emerging victorious last week. Kelly’s wife is the former Democratic congresswoman, Gabby Giffords, who was shot in 2011. Giffords represented the 8th Congressional District, centred on Maricopa County. Maricopa, with 62% of the state’s population, is home to Phoenix, the state capital. In short, Maricopa is vital for any presidential candidate who wants to win Arizona.
Yet Trump managed to alienate county residents to the extent that they voted last week for a Democratic senator and for Joe Biden by 51% to 47% – more than enough to flip the state. At least 1,912,000 Maricopa voters turned against Trump, including Hispanic/Latinos by about 2 to 1. About 47% of white voters went for Biden. It was a remarkable turnaround in a once-famed Republican stronghold – and very much a Trump own goal.


theguardian--2020-11-07--From agony to elation: the election that has transfixed the world

The bolt of panic shot through liberal America within minutes of the polls closing in Miami .
Democrats had calculated that as the first results came in from Florida cities , they should expect Joe Biden to take an early lead .
After that it would be a close fight as votes piled up for Donald Trump in more conservative parts of the state .
Still , Democrats were buoyant .
Opinion polls had Biden with the edge in Florida .
If the former vice-president could nail the state , the election would probably be settled before California even finished @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to victory that did not include Florida .
Then Miami-Dade county declared the result of nearly one million early votes shortly after 7pm .
Biden was nine points behind the president in a county that Hillary Clinton won by a 30-point margin in 2016 .
Far from fighting from behind , Trump was ahead right out of the starting gate .
Eventually , Biden pulled off a slim victory in Miami-Dade but the result was still a huge swing to Trump that helped deliver him Florida .
The former chair of the county @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it “ a bloodbath ” .
Twitter churned with expletives .
Alarmed messages flew on social-media groups speculating as to what it meant that Biden was performing worse than Clinton , with the ever-present nightmare of her 2016 defeat hanging over proceedings .
Permutations were calculated and recalculated .
In bars not shut because of coronavirus , stunned Democrats ordered stiff drinks and settled in for a long night .
Meanwhile , Trump and his more excitable followers took it as an omen and readied themselves to declare victory .
So began an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ remarkable American presidential election week of modern times .
Election day saw the president and his supporters start out believing they had repeated the astonishing upset of 2016 .
By the end of the week , Americans were subjected to the unusual spectacle of their president trashing his own country ’ s electoral system as corrupt and undemocratic .
In 2000 , the world was introduced to the import of hanging chads to the US democratic process .
Twenty years later , Americans with a vote , and many hundreds of millions more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a strong interest in the outcome , have been steeped in the demographics and voting patterns of key counties from Philadelphia to Las Vegas and Atlanta as they rode a rollercoaster of results .
Even before the first vote was counted , the 2020 election was setting records .
More than 100 million people had already voted before election day because of coronavirus , making it the first election in US history where more voters cast their ballot before the election than on the day .
Through it all , America ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weighted in favour of conservative regions , and sometimes corrupt in its administration if not in the ways Trump meant – proved resilient .
The votes went on being counted and results declared .
For a very short while , Democrats told themselves the Miami-Dade disaster was down to the significant numbers of Cuban Americans who wouldn ’ t like Biden because Barack Obama eased up on Fidel Castro .
It would surely be different in parts of Florida where Hispanics with other ancestries lived , the kind Trump had insulted , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sick of his mishandling of coronavirus .
Those delusions didn ’ t last long .
An hour into the Florida count , Biden had pulled narrowly ahead but that was of little comfort to Democrats because it was clearly not enough to overcome results awaited from areas that favoured Trump .
The New York Times gave the president a 95 % chance of winning Florida as the president did well with the state ’ s Puerto Rican population and the elderly .
Stunned liberals were gripped by visions of 2016 as they began @ @ @ @ @ @ @ belief in a “ blue wave ” sweeping the country in a repudiation of Trump were looking shaky .
For months , opinion polls had assured Democrats that this time it would be different .
They showed Biden commanding double-digit leads in three key midwestern states – Michigan , Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – that Trump won in 2016 by less than one percent of the vote .
Taking back those states would be enough to deliver Biden the White House so long as he also won every state Clinton took four years ago @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what once again proved to be worthless opinion polling that they began predicting that even Texas would swing their way , just as Clinton had done in a similar fit of hubris , amid excitable talk of a landslide .
But on the night , Florida popped that delusion and Biden ’ s supporters braced for rocky days ahead .
Americans were repeatedly forewarned that early results in key states would make it look as if Trump were winning on the night because local election laws required that postal ballots be processed and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That would have made little difference in any other year but this was the age of coronavirus and mail-in votes made up a significant part of the count .
They also leaned heavily toward Biden after Trump told his supporters that postal balloting would be rigged .
Some Democrats took a deep breath and tried to keep their nerve .
Others , burned by the nightmare of four years ago , were consumed by a doom-laden sense of deja vu .
Republicans , on the other hand , were heartened .
Jason Miller @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign , said that the number of the president ’ s supporters who voted was up and that was a good sign .
“ We feel very good about where we ’ re turning out , ” he said .
Miller was right about the increased turnout for Trump , if not its impact .
The president used his favourite medium , Twitter , to proclaim that prospects for his re-election were “ looking really good all over the country ” .
At the official Republican “ victory party ” in Des Moines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ celebrated by refusing to wear masks .
Police on the door openly proclaimed their loyalty to the president .
Excitement at the Florida result was compounded by the count in Iowa , a state that twice voted for Obama but swung heavily to Trump in 2016 .
The now notorious polls said it would be a close contest this year , as would the election for one of the state ’ s seats in the US Senate held by Joni Ernst .
But long before midnight , it was clear that Trump had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Ernst also scored a decisive victory .
“ Trump is a winner !
We ’ re not going to let them steal it from us .
I never took any notice of the polls after what happened with Hillary .
Trump had a big victory here tonight .
They said he would lose Iowa .
It ’ s going to be the same in the rest of the country .
I ’ m expecting a red wave , ” she said .
Iowa ’ s Republican governor , Kim Reynolds , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats were now history in her state .
“ We have proven without a doubt that Iowa is a red state , ” she said .
There was despair among Iowa ’ s Democrats .
Laura Hubka , chair of the party in Howard County , which had the largest swing from Obama to Trump in the US four years ago , feared that the election was about to turn into a repeat of 2016 .
“ This feels all too familiar , ” she said .
Hubka blamed the violence of some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ calls to defund the police for strengthening Trump ’ s support in rural Iowa .
‘ Frankly , we did win this election ’ After Florida , attention shifted to the upper midwest where Biden needed victories if he was to win the presidency .
Opinion polls gave him a shot at Ohio .
With two-thirds of the vote counted , the former vice-president had a small lead – a good sign in a state that swung from Obama to a significant Trump victory four years ago .
But that didn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats waited for the promised swing the other way as the postal votes were counted in some of Ohio ’ s biggest counties , which include cities such as Cleveland and Cincinnati .
Not long after midnight , Ohio was called for Trump by eight points .
In three hours it had lurched from a Biden lead to a victory for the president .
This was back to front from how Democrats were told the count would unfold .
The numbers were not looking great for Biden either in the key midwestern states @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he was falling hundreds of thousands of votes behind in Pennsylvania .
Don ’ t panic , Democratic leaders said .
The numbers are in Biden ’ s favour even if they don ’ t look like it .
But that part of the country hoping to be rid of Trump was nervous and losing confidence .
As far as the president was concerned , it was all over .
At 2am on Wednesday , he appeared at the White House to declare victory and demand a halt to the counting of votes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this election , ” he said .
“ We want all voting to stop , ” he added , in what appeared to be a claim that ballots were being cast against him illegally .
Twitter added a warning to Trump ’ s tweets after he began claiming the election was being “ stolen from him ” .
“ We are up BIG , but they are trying to STEAL the Election .
We will never let them do it .
Votes can not be cast after the Polls are closed !
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other hand , urged patience .
“ As I ’ ve said all along , it ’ s not my place or Donald Trump ’ s place to declare who ’ s won this election , ” he said .
“ That ’ s the decision of the American people .
But I ’ m optimistic about this outcome.
” On a tough night , the first really good piece of news for Biden came at 3am when the Associated Press called Arizona for him .
A win in the former Republican stronghold @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he could still reach the White House if he carried Wisconsin and Michigan as well , although that was far from certain .
The loss of Arizona also boxed Trump in to a much narrower path to holding on to power .
As dawn broke , Democratic expectations were shifting .
Talk of a blue wave had fallen away .
Winning control of the US Senate was looking a challenge .
But the prospects of ousting the president were picking up , and Democrats were comforted by the knowledge that dumping Trump had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Biden ’ s vote ticked up in Wisconsin and Michigan as finally the results began following the predicted pattern of giving Trump the lead initially but then surging for the Democrat as the cities emerged to keep alive his bid for the White House .
One of the major challenges for Trump ’ s campaign was to find the extra votes to offset increased Democratic turnout in the cities .
The president ’ s vote did go up in rural Wisconsin and Michigan but the increased urban support for Biden , led by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters in cities such as Detroit and Milwaukee , was too much for Trump to overcome .
Wade Mahlstadt , a 25-year-old who works for a company that makes breathalysers , turned out to vote for the first time because he wanted rid of Trump .
“ I don ’ t think I ’ ve ever seen anyone in my age group , let alone this many people in my age group , be this involved and participate with it , ” he said .
“ I think it ’ s gon na @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot of us , and a lot of younger people don ’ t usually care to vote or want to be involved.
” Black voters were instrumental in places in keeping Biden ’ s hopes of election alive , particularly as other parts of the coalition the Democrats were counting on failed to materialise .
The party said it expected a big surge in white women , particularly in the suburbs , away from Trump and to Biden .
But that did not happen in the numbers the Democrats hoped .
Still @ @ @ @ @ @ @ support among black men , according to an NBC exit poll , and Trump gained among Hispanic voters too , particularly Mexican Americans in rural Texas and Puerto Ricans in Florida .
Americans watched fascinated and nerve-racked as pieces of the electoral puzzle emerged and then faded .
North Carolina was in play for a while but then swung more assuredly to Trump .
Nevada took its place as the key to the White House for a time because in tandem with Arizona it would provide enough electoral college votes for Biden not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ All the while , Georgia was edging the Democrat ’ s way .
As Trump ’ s prospects of re-election imploded , he took to the White House press podium on Thursday evening to give the most extraordinary statement of a presidency not short on jaw-dropping moments .
He intended it as a battle cry , but the 17 remarkable minutes felt more like a death rattle as Trump looked winded by the wave of results going against him .
Lacking his usual fire , the president painted himself as the victim of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ count the legal votes , I easily win .
If you count the illegal votes , they can try to steal the election from us , ” he began .
Trump accused opinion pollsters of getting it “ knowingly wrong ” in order to influence voters against him .
Other outright falsehoods followed .
“ There are now only a few states yet to be decided in the presidential race .
The voting apparatus of those states are run , in all cases , by Democrats , ” he claimed .
Except that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans were in charge of running the election .
Trump alleged a conspiracy of ballots cast after election day , secret counting rooms , votes magically appearing from nowhere .
“ We were winning in all the key locations by a lot , actually .
And then our numbers started miraculously getting whittled away in secret , ” he said .
“ It ’ s a corrupt system , and it makes people corrupt even if they aren ’ t by nature.
” Then he sounded almost plaintive as he appealed to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t about him .
He was thinking of America .
“ It ’ s not a question of who wins .
Republican , Democrat ; Joe , myself .
We can ’ t let that happen to our country .
We can ’ t be disgraced by having something like this happen , ” he said .
Trump said the election would be decided by the courts but the prospect of the result being overturned looked increasingly dim .
Conventional legal opinion had it that even a supreme court now top heavy with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ results in enough states to change the outcome .
The US television networks cut away from the speech long before the president finished speaking because they said they weren ’ t prepared to broadcast a litany of lies .
But much of the country couldn ’ t take their eyes off Trump ’ s Shakespearean performance .
The president ’ s son , Don Junior , called in a tweet for his father to “ go to total war over this election ” but the few protests in support of Trump ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ much of an appetite for a showdown .
The mayor of Philadelphia , Jim Kenney , expressed the derision felt in large parts of the country at Trump ’ s claim the election was being stolen .
“ I think what the president needs to do is , frankly , put his big boy pants on , ” he said .
“ He needs to acknowledge the fact that he has lost , and he needs to congratulate the winner.
” In the early hours of Friday , Georgia finally shifted to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the former vice president would be the first Democrat to win the state since 1992 , overturning a majority of more than 200,000 for Trump four years ago .
The late surge in favour of Biden came from Atlanta and other major cities and their suburbs , partly as a consequence of the shifting demographics of southern states that has been remaking local political coalitions and elections for years but is now having a national impact .
But the president ’ s narrow defeat in Georgia was also substantially thanks to the efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who was denied victory in the 2018 race for state governor by what looked to a lot of people like voter suppression by her Republican opponent , who also happened to be in charge of the election as secretary of state .
Abrams responded to that defeat by organising to mobilise voters , and to protect their ballots , which paid off for Biden .
Arizona also exacted a revenge of sorts on Trump for his repeated disparaging of the state ’ s late senator , John McCain , which surely cost the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by a narrow margin .
By Friday evening , Biden was entertaining the satisfying prospect of winning all four of the states still in play as he continued to strengthen albeit still narrow leads in Pennsylvania , Georgia , Nevada and Arizona .
If he does take all four , he will win exactly the same number of electoral college votes as Trump four years ago : 306 .
Biden had hoped to be making an acceptance speech late on Friday to thank the American people for electing him president .
But with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ victory was certain and to hang on in there .
“ Look , we both know tensions can be high after a tough election .
One like we ’ ve had .
But we need to remember we have to remain calm , patient .
Let the process work out as we count all the votes , ” he said .
“ Democracy works .
Your vote will be counted .
I don ’ t care how hard people try to stop it , I will not let it happen.
” As victory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the triumph many Democrats imagined on election day .
Biden ’ s campaign has been a success in its primary goal of the downfall of Donald Trump .
He built an electoral coalition to reconstruct the midwestern blue wall and won states no Democrat had taken in years .
But relief that the end was in sight for what good numbers of Americans regard as the worst presidency ever was tinged with a realisation that the Democrats ’ failure to win control of the Senate – unless they can pick up the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will dash the promise of public health insurance , the green new deal and the fantasy of packing the supreme court by adding more sympathetic justices .
If the supreme court strikes down Obamacare , depriving millions of Americans of subsidised health coverage , President Biden could struggle to replace it .
The Republicans will also have a veto over who is in his cabinet .
The failure of the blue wave also killed any illusions that the election would mark a popular repudiation of Trump .
Although Biden won the popular vote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s own tally actually increased on 2016 .
The election confirmed that the schism revealed by Trump ’ s election four years ago is as deep , perhaps deeper , than ever .
Trump will soon be out of the White House but Trumpism is by no means dead .
For the Republican establishment , continued control of the Senate gives its Republican leader Mitch McConnell the opportunity to constrain the Biden administration , limiting its ability to chalk up legislative successes , while the party organises to take back the presidency @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
However , there may be one major obstacle to that plan .
Trump .
Mick Mulvaney , Trump ’ s former acting chief of staff now serving as US special envoy for Northern Ireland , said he expected him to run again in 2024 despite losing to Biden .
“ I would absolutely expect the president to stay involved in politics and would absolutely put him on the shortlist of people who are likely to run in 2024 , ” he told an Irish thinktank .
Mulvaney was apparently doing more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ already discussing a potential 2024 run with some of his aides .
If Trump has his way , he ’ ll be back .

The bolt of panic shot through liberal America within minutes of the polls closing in Miami.
Democrats had calculated that as the first results came in from Florida cities, they should expect Joe Biden to take an early lead. After that it would be a close fight as votes piled up for Donald Trump in more conservative parts of the state.
Still, Democrats were buoyant. Opinion polls had Biden with the edge in Florida. If the former vice-president could nail the state, the election would probably be settled before California even finished voting. Trump had almost no path to victory that did not include Florida.
Then Miami-Dade county declared the result of nearly one million early votes shortly after 7pm.
Biden was nine points behind the president in a county that Hillary Clinton won by a 30-point margin in 2016. Far from fighting from behind, Trump was ahead right out of the starting gate.
Eventually, Biden pulled off a slim victory in Miami-Dade but the result was still a huge swing to Trump that helped deliver him Florida. The former chair of the county Democratic party, Joe Garcia, called it “a bloodbath”.
Twitter churned with expletives. Alarmed messages flew on social-media groups speculating as to what it meant that Biden was performing worse than Clinton, with the ever-present nightmare of her 2016 defeat hanging over proceedings. Permutations were calculated and recalculated. In bars not shut because of coronavirus, stunned Democrats ordered stiff drinks and settled in for a long night.
Meanwhile, Trump and his more excitable followers took it as an omen and readied themselves to declare victory.
Trump supporters were jubilant in The Villages, Florida, as the president shocked Democrats by winning the state again. Photograph: Ricardo Arduengo/AFP/Getty Images
So began an extraordinary few days in perhaps the most remarkable American presidential election week of modern times. Election day saw the president and his supporters start out believing they had repeated the astonishing upset of 2016. By the end of the week, Americans were subjected to the unusual spectacle of their president trashing his own country’s electoral system as corrupt and undemocratic.
In 2000, the world was introduced to the import of hanging chads to the US democratic process. Twenty years later, Americans with a vote, and many hundreds of millions more in foreign lands with no say but a strong interest in the outcome, have been steeped in the demographics and voting patterns of key counties from Philadelphia to Las Vegas and Atlanta as they rode a rollercoaster of results.
Even before the first vote was counted, the 2020 election was setting records. More than 100 million people had already voted before election day because of coronavirus, making it the first election in US history where more voters cast their ballot before the election than on the day.
Through it all, America’s deeply flawed electoral system – cumbersome, weighted in favour of conservative regions, and sometimes corrupt in its administration if not in the ways Trump meant – proved resilient. The votes went on being counted and results declared.
For a very short while, Democrats told themselves the Miami-Dade disaster was down to the significant numbers of Cuban Americans who wouldn’t like Biden because Barack Obama eased up on Fidel Castro. It would surely be different in parts of Florida where Hispanics with other ancestries lived, the kind Trump had insulted, and where colonies of retired people must be sick of his mishandling of coronavirus.
Those delusions didn’t last long. An hour into the Florida count, Biden had pulled narrowly ahead but that was of little comfort to Democrats because it was clearly not enough to overcome results awaited from areas that favoured Trump. The New York Times gave the president a 95% chance of winning Florida as the president did well with the state’s Puerto Rican population and the elderly.
Stunned liberals were gripped by visions of 2016 as they began to realise that the foundations of their belief in a “blue wave” sweeping the country in a repudiation of Trump were looking shaky.
04:42 The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes - video highlights
This time it’s different
For months, opinion polls had assured Democrats that this time it would be different. They showed Biden commanding double-digit leads in three key midwestern states – Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – that Trump won in 2016 by less than one percent of the vote. Taking back those states would be enough to deliver Biden the White House so long as he also won every state Clinton took four years ago.
Some Democrats felt so confident in what once again proved to be worthless opinion polling that they began predicting that even Texas would swing their way, just as Clinton had done in a similar fit of hubris, amid excitable talk of a landslide.
But on the night, Florida popped that delusion and Biden’s supporters braced for rocky days ahead.
Americans were repeatedly forewarned that early results in key states would make it look as if Trump were winning on the night because local election laws required that postal ballots be processed and counted only after the walk-in votes.
That would have made little difference in any other year but this was the age of coronavirus and mail-in votes made up a significant part of the count. They also leaned heavily toward Biden after Trump told his supporters that postal balloting would be rigged.
Some Democrats took a deep breath and tried to keep their nerve. Others, burned by the nightmare of four years ago, were consumed by a doom-laden sense of deja vu.
Republicans, on the other hand, were heartened. Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said that the number of the president’s supporters who voted was up and that was a good sign.
“We feel very good about where we’re turning out,” he said.
Miller was right about the increased turnout for Trump, if not its impact.
The president used his favourite medium, Twitter, to proclaim that prospects for his re-election were “looking really good all over the country”.
At the official Republican “victory party” in Des Moines, Iowa, hundreds of Trump supporters celebrated by refusing to wear masks. Police on the door openly proclaimed their loyalty to the president.
A voter marks his ballot in Richland, Iowa. Polls suggested a close race, but Trump won the state comfortably. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images
Excitement at the Florida result was compounded by the count in Iowa, a state that twice voted for Obama but swung heavily to Trump in 2016. The now notorious polls said it would be a close contest this year, as would the election for one of the state’s seats in the US Senate held by Joni Ernst.
But long before midnight, it was clear that Trump had won Iowa by more than eight points and Ernst also scored a decisive victory.
Jann Simon roared her approval.
“Trump is a winner! We’re not going to let them steal it from us. I never took any notice of the polls after what happened with Hillary. Trump had a big victory here tonight. They said he would lose Iowa. It’s going to be the same in the rest of the country. I’m expecting a red wave,” she said.
Iowa’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, a close Trump ally, proclaimed that the Democrats were now history in her state.
“We have proven without a doubt that Iowa is a red state,” she said.
There was despair among Iowa’s Democrats. Laura Hubka, chair of the party in Howard County, which had the largest swing from Obama to Trump in the US four years ago, feared that the election was about to turn into a repeat of 2016. “This feels all too familiar,” she said.
Hubka blamed the violence of some of the Black Lives Matter protests and calls to defund the police for strengthening Trump’s support in rural Iowa.
‘Frankly, we did win this election’
After Florida, attention shifted to the upper midwest where Biden needed victories if he was to win the presidency. Opinion polls gave him a shot at Ohio. With two-thirds of the vote counted, the former vice-president had a small lead – a good sign in a state that swung from Obama to a significant Trump victory four years ago.
But that didn’t last long as Trump pulled ahead. Democrats waited for the promised swing the other way as the postal votes were counted in some of Ohio’s biggest counties, which include cities such as Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Not long after midnight, Ohio was called for Trump by eight points. In three hours it had lurched from a Biden lead to a victory for the president. This was back to front from how Democrats were told the count would unfold.
The numbers were not looking great for Biden either in the key midwestern states he had to win. Before long he was falling hundreds of thousands of votes behind in Pennsylvania. Don’t panic, Democratic leaders said. The numbers are in Biden’s favour even if they don’t look like it. But that part of the country hoping to be rid of Trump was nervous and losing confidence.
As far as the president was concerned, it was all over. At 2am on Wednesday, he appeared at the White House to declare victory and demand a halt to the counting of votes.
“Frankly, we did win this election,” he said.
“We want all voting to stop,” he added, in what appeared to be a claim that ballots were being cast against him illegally.
Twitter added a warning to Trump’s tweets after he began claiming the election was being “stolen from him”.
“We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Polls are closed!” he tweeted.
Biden, on the other hand, urged patience.
The strain begins to show at a Republican event in Las Vegas, Nevada, as the presidential race tightens. Photograph: David Becker/EPA
“As I’ve said all along, it’s not my place or Donald Trump’s place to declare who’s won this election,” he said. “That’s the decision of the American people. But I’m optimistic about this outcome.”
On a tough night, the first really good piece of news for Biden came at 3am when the Associated Press called Arizona for him. A win in the former Republican stronghold eased the pressure to take Pennsylvania because he could still reach the White House if he carried Wisconsin and Michigan as well, although that was far from certain. The loss of Arizona also boxed Trump in to a much narrower path to holding on to power.
A brighter dawn
As dawn broke, Democratic expectations were shifting. Talk of a blue wave had fallen away. Winning control of the US Senate was looking a challenge. But the prospects of ousting the president were picking up, and Democrats were comforted by the knowledge that dumping Trump had always been the most important victory.
Biden’s vote ticked up in Wisconsin and Michigan as finally the results began following the predicted pattern of giving Trump the lead initially but then surging for the Democrat as the cities emerged to keep alive his bid for the White House.
One of the major challenges for Trump’s campaign was to find the extra votes to offset increased Democratic turnout in the cities. The president’s vote did go up in rural Wisconsin and Michigan but the increased urban support for Biden, led by a surge in African American and young voters in cities such as Detroit and Milwaukee, was too much for Trump to overcome.
Wade Mahlstadt, a 25-year-old who works for a company that makes breathalysers, turned out to vote for the first time because he wanted rid of Trump.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone in my age group, let alone this many people in my age group, be this involved and participate with it,” he said. “I think it’s gonna make an impact because there’s a lot of us, and a lot of younger people don’t usually care to vote or want to be involved.”
Black voters were instrumental in places in keeping Biden’s hopes of election alive, particularly as other parts of the coalition the Democrats were counting on failed to materialise. The party said it expected a big surge in white women, particularly in the suburbs, away from Trump and to Biden. But that did not happen in the numbers the Democrats hoped.
There’s dancing in the streets of Philadelphia as the news comes through of Joe Biden overtaking Trump in the Pennsylvania election count. Photograph: Mark Makela/Reuters
Still, the president also marginally increased his support among black men, according to an NBC exit poll, and Trump gained among Hispanic voters too, particularly Mexican Americans in rural Texas and Puerto Ricans in Florida.
Americans watched fascinated and nerve-racked as pieces of the electoral puzzle emerged and then faded. North Carolina was in play for a while but then swung more assuredly to Trump. Nevada took its place as the key to the White House for a time because in tandem with Arizona it would provide enough electoral college votes for Biden not to have to worry about Pennsylvania. All the while, Georgia was edging the Democrat’s way.
As Trump’s prospects of re-election imploded, he took to the White House press podium on Thursday evening to give the most extraordinary statement of a presidency not short on jaw-dropping moments. He intended it as a battle cry, but the 17 remarkable minutes felt more like a death rattle as Trump looked winded by the wave of results going against him. Lacking his usual fire, the president painted himself as the victim of a vast conspiracy.
“If you count the legal votes, I easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us,” he began.
Trump accused opinion pollsters of getting it “knowingly wrong” in order to influence voters against him. Other outright falsehoods followed.
“There are now only a few states yet to be decided in the presidential race. The voting apparatus of those states are run, in all cases, by Democrats,” he claimed. Except that in almost all of those states, Republicans were in charge of running the election.
Trump alleged a conspiracy of ballots cast after election day, secret counting rooms, votes magically appearing from nowhere.
“We were winning in all the key locations by a lot, actually. And then our numbers started miraculously getting whittled away in secret,” he said. “It’s a corrupt system, and it makes people corrupt even if they aren’t by nature.”
Then he sounded almost plaintive as he appealed to the country to understand that this wasn’t about him. He was thinking of America.
A bullish President Trump speaks at the White House in Washington DC on Thursday. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images
“It’s not a question of who wins. Republican, Democrat; Joe, myself. We can’t let that happen to our country. We can’t be disgraced by having something like this happen,” he said.
Trump said the election would be decided by the courts but the prospect of the result being overturned looked increasingly dim. Conventional legal opinion had it that even a supreme court now top heavy with conservatives would be unlikely to nullify the results in enough states to change the outcome.
The US television networks cut away from the speech long before the president finished speaking because they said they weren’t prepared to broadcast a litany of lies. But much of the country couldn’t take their eyes off Trump’s Shakespearean performance.
The president’s son, Don Junior, called in a tweet for his father to “go to total war over this election” but the few protests in support of Trump’s claims about the vote did not suggest much of an appetite for a showdown.
The mayor of Philadelphia, Jim Kenney, expressed the derision felt in large parts of the country at Trump’s claim the election was being stolen.
“I think what the president needs to do is, frankly, put his big boy pants on,” he said. “He needs to acknowledge the fact that he has lost, and he needs to congratulate the winner.”
Black votes mattered
In the early hours of Friday, Georgia finally shifted to a Biden majority. If it held, the former vice president would be the first Democrat to win the state since 1992, overturning a majority of more than 200,000 for Trump four years ago.
The late surge in favour of Biden came from Atlanta and other major cities and their suburbs, partly as a consequence of the shifting demographics of southern states that has been remaking local political coalitions and elections for years but is now having a national impact.
But the president’s narrow defeat in Georgia was also substantially thanks to the efforts of one woman, Stacey Abrams, who was denied victory in the 2018 race for state governor by what looked to a lot of people like voter suppression by her Republican opponent, who also happened to be in charge of the election as secretary of state.
An anti-Trump rally on election day at the renamed Black Lives Matter plaza across from the White House in Washington DC. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images
Abrams responded to that defeat by organising to mobilise voters, and to protect their ballots, which paid off for Biden.
Arizona also exacted a revenge of sorts on Trump for his repeated disparaging of the state’s late senator, John McCain, which surely cost the president votes in a state he lost by a narrow margin.
By Friday evening, Biden was entertaining the satisfying prospect of winning all four of the states still in play as he continued to strengthen albeit still narrow leads in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada and Arizona. If he does take all four, he will win exactly the same number of electoral college votes as Trump four years ago: 306.
Biden had hoped to be making an acceptance speech late on Friday to thank the American people for electing him president. But with no definitive result he instead told them victory was certain and to hang on in there.
“Look, we both know tensions can be high after a tough election. One like we’ve had. But we need to remember we have to remain calm, patient. Let the process work out as we count all the votes,” he said. “Democracy works. Your vote will be counted. I don’t care how hard people try to stop it, I will not let it happen.”
Trumpism after Trump
As victory crept closer, it represented something different to the triumph many Democrats imagined on election day.
Biden’s campaign has been a success in its primary goal of the downfall of Donald Trump. He built an electoral coalition to reconstruct the midwestern blue wall and won states no Democrat had taken in years.
But relief that the end was in sight for what good numbers of Americans regard as the worst presidency ever was tinged with a realisation that the Democrats’ failure to win control of the Senate – unless they can pick up the two Georgia run-off seats in January – will dash the promise of public health insurance, the green new deal and the fantasy of packing the supreme court by adding more sympathetic justices.
If the supreme court strikes down Obamacare, depriving millions of Americans of subsidised health coverage, President Biden could struggle to replace it. The Republicans will also have a veto over who is in his cabinet.
The failure of the blue wave also killed any illusions that the election would mark a popular repudiation of Trump. Although Biden won the popular vote by more than four million, Trump’s own tally actually increased on 2016.
In Phoenix, Arizona, heavily armed Trump supporters protest about the way the vote is going in Maricopa County. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/Reuters
The election confirmed that the schism revealed by Trump’s election four years ago is as deep, perhaps deeper, than ever. Trump will soon be out of the White House but Trumpism is by no means dead.
For the Republican establishment, continued control of the Senate gives its Republican leader Mitch McConnell the opportunity to constrain the Biden administration, limiting its ability to chalk up legislative successes, while the party organises to take back the presidency in 2024 with a less volatile candidate.
However, there may be one major obstacle to that plan. Trump.
Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former acting chief of staff now serving as US special envoy for Northern Ireland, said he expected him to run again in 2024 despite losing to Biden.
“I would absolutely expect the president to stay involved in politics and would absolutely put him on the shortlist of people who are likely to run in 2024,” he told an Irish thinktank.
Mulvaney was apparently doing more than speculating. CNN reported that Trump is already discussing a potential 2024 run with some of his aides. If Trump has his way, he’ll be back.


theguardian--2020-11-07--Ever resilient, Joe Biden finally grasps his chance to lead America

At a moment of extraordinary tumult and pain , America has elected a man haunted by grief , with a seemingly boundless capacity for resilience , to be the country ’ s next president .
Joe Biden sought the presidency twice before serving as vice-president for eight years in the Obama administration , a role that might have been the capstone of his decades in public life .
But after the election of Donald Trump four years ago , Biden believed he had one last mission .
Casting the 2020 election as a “ battle for the soul of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the country , on the strength of their characters .
“ Character is on the ballot , ” Biden told voters again and again , as he promised to be a leader who was empathetic and decent , traits that his opponent saw as weaknesses .
Biden told the nation that his life and career had taken him through extraordinary highs and unimaginable lows , and what he had learned from those experiences made him the right man to meet this moment .
“ The Bible tells us there ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a time to build up .
A time to heal – this is that time , ” he said , citing Ecclesiastes in one of the final speeches of his campaign last week .
“ God and history have called us to this moment and to this mission.
” Biden became the second youngest senator in American history when he was elected days before his 30th birthday , upsetting a long-serving Republican who few believed was vulnerable .
Now , nearly half a century later , the 77-year-old will be sworn in as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ while the former California senator Kamala Harris will be the first woman and the first woman of color to serve as vice-president .
Biden was born in Scranton , Pennsylvania , a hardscrabble former coalmining town that would later serve as the backdrop for the American version of The Office .
Though Biden ’ s father , out of a job , moved the family to Delaware when he was just 10 , his hometown roots have defined his political persona as an “ average Joe ” and a man of the people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign trail for his former vice-president last month , introduced Biden as the “ scrappy kid from Scranton ” .
“ I came to admire Joe as a man who learned early on to treat everybody he meets with dignity and respect , living by the words his parents taught him : ‘ No one is better than you , Joe , but you are better than nobody.
” During a visit to Scranton before polls closed on election day , the current occupant of Biden ’ s childhood home asked him to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ From this house to the White House with the grace of God , ” he wrote .
“ Joe Biden , 11-3-2020.
” Despite his reputation as a self-described “ gaffe machine , ” Biden can also be incredibly disciplined .
As a child , he stood in front of a mirror reciting poetry for hours to overcome a stutter that still affects his speech today .
Despite his wistfulness for a bygone political era of bipartisan socializing , the Democrat has never had a drink in his life , citing a family @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won his first election to the US Senate in 1972 , his wife , Neilia , and infant daughter , Naomi , were killed in a car accident .
His sons , Beau and Hunter , were injured .
Tormented and unsure of whether to move forward , Biden was persuaded to serve his term and was sworn in from the hospital , by his children ’ s bedside .
As a single father raising two young sons alone , Biden rode the Amtrak train home from Washington DC to Delaware every night @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jill Jacobs , an educator who he says made his small family “ whole again ” .
They married in 1977 and had a daughter , Ashley .
Decades later , he would lose Beau , to brain cancer at just 46 years old .
After his eldest son ’ s death , Biden announced he would not run for president despite pressure for him to challenge Hillary Clinton in 2016 .
It was widely believed that his decision finally closed the door on his presidential ambitions .
“ When most politicians say @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pain , ’ it feels corny or contrived , ” said Jeff Wilser , the author of The Book of Joe .
“ With Biden it ’ s real , because he truly does feel it .
Much of Biden ’ s life has been defined by tragedy , and right now the nation is living a tragedy.
” More than 225,000 people have died from the coronavirus , and millions have lost their jobs in the economic fallout .
For months this summer , US streets were filled with protesters demanding an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and women at the hands of law enforcement .
“ I think I know what you ’ re feeling , ” Biden said , in remarks to the families of the coronavirus dead .
“ You feel like you ’ re being sucked into a black hole in the middle of your chest .
It ’ s suffocating .
Your heart is broken , and there ’ s nothing but a feeling of emptiness right now.
” When Donald Trump won in 2016 , Biden said he felt compelled to run again .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ win the presidency .
In his first attempt , Biden ran as the candidate of generational change but it quickly fell apart amid a plagiarism scandal involving the British Labour leader Neil Kinnock .
( He is now fastidious about his citation , whether quoting his mother or the Bible . )
In his second run , Biden ran as a statesman but was outshone by a candidate many decades his junior who inspired “ hope and change ” : Barack Obama .
Many questioned the wisdom of his third attempt .
His @ @ @ @ @ @ @ changed , but he hadn ’ t .
Biden clung to that bygone era of bipartisanship , long after his friends in Washington DC had retreated to their political corners .
And he was a white centrist in his 70s seeking the nomination of a party that was increasingly young , diverse and progressive .
In light of the # MeToo movement , Biden has recently apologized for his treatment of Anita Hill in 1991 , when he presided over the confirmation hearings of the supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas , in which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ He has also expressed regret for the 1994 crime bill that he helped author , and which experts and critics say laid the groundwork for an era of mass incarceration that has disproportionately penalized black and brown people .
He also called his support for the Iraq war a “ mistake ” .
Yet despite a turbulent start and a formidable Democratic field of ideological warriors and rising stars promoting progressive policies , Biden stuck to his moderate positions and appeals for bipartisanship , and he defied the odds .
He consistently portrayed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ president sought division , he would find unity ; where the president advocated isolationism , Biden would forge alliances ; where Trump ignored science , Biden would be guided by experts .
It was part of , as Obama said , Biden ’ s commitment to protecting Americans from all threats “ foreign , domestic – and microscopic ” .
Promising to be a healer at a grave moment for the nation , Biden brought together a coalition of black , Hispanic and white voters , progressives , independents and lifelong Republicans , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a president he warned would “ forever and fundamentally change the character of this nation ” .
The next four years may be harder yet for the US , which has just survived one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in history .
But Biden was confident he had finally arrived at the moment , when , quoting the Irish poet Seamus Heaney , “ hope and history rhyme ” .

At a moment of extraordinary tumult and pain, America has elected a man haunted by grief, with a seemingly boundless capacity for resilience, to be the country’s next president.
Joe Biden sought the presidency twice before serving as vice-president for eight years in the Obama administration, a role that might have been the capstone of his decades in public life.
But after the election of Donald Trump four years ago, Biden believed he had one last mission. Casting the 2020 election as a “battle for the soul of the nation”, he challenged the incumbent, and the country, on the strength of their characters.
“Character is on the ballot,” Biden told voters again and again, as he promised to be a leader who was empathetic and decent, traits that his opponent saw as weaknesses. Biden told the nation that his life and career had taken him through extraordinary highs and unimaginable lows, and what he had learned from those experiences made him the right man for this moment.
Jill and Joe Biden greet supporters outside the Chase Center in Wilmington, Delaware, at the conclusion of the Democratic national convention in August. Photograph: Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images
“The Bible tells us there’s a time to break down, and a time to build up. A time to heal – this is that time,” he said, citing Ecclesiastes in one of the final speeches of his campaign last week. “God and history have called us to this moment and to this mission.”
Biden became the second youngest senator in American history when he was elected days before his 30th birthday, upsetting a long-serving Republican who few believed was vulnerable. Now, nearly half a century later, the 77-year-old will be sworn in as the oldest president in American history, while the former California senator Kamala Harris will be the first woman and the first woman of color to serve as vice-president.
Biden was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a hardscrabble former coalmining town that would later serve as the backdrop for the American version of The Office. Though Biden’s father, out of a job, moved the family to Delaware when he was just 10, his hometown roots have defined his political persona as an “average Joe” and a man of the people.
Barack Obama, out on the campaign trail for his former vice-president last month, introduced Biden as the “scrappy kid from Scranton”.
“I came to admire Joe as a man who learned early on to treat everybody he meets with dignity and respect, living by the words his parents taught him: ‘No one is better than you, Joe, but you are better than nobody.”
04:42 The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes - video highlights
During a visit to Scranton before polls closed on election day, the current occupant of Biden’s childhood home asked him to sign the living room wall. “From this house to the White House with the grace of God,” he wrote. “Joe Biden, 11-3-2020.”
Despite his reputation as a self-described “gaffe machine,” Biden can also be incredibly disciplined. As a child, he stood in front of a mirror reciting poetry for hours to overcome a stutter that still affects his speech today. Despite his wistfulness for a bygone political era of bipartisan socializing, the Democrat has never had a drink in his life, citing a family history of alcoholism.
Days after Biden won his first election to the US Senate in 1972, his wife, Neilia, and infant daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident. His sons, Beau and Hunter, were injured. Tormented and unsure of whether to move forward, Biden was persuaded to serve his term and was sworn in from the hospital, by his children’s bedside.
As a single father raising two young sons alone, Biden rode the Amtrak train home from Washington DC to Delaware every night. He soon fell in love with Jill Jacobs, an educator who he says made his small family “whole again”. They married in 1977 and had a daughter, Ashley.
Four-year-old Beau Biden plays as his father, centre, is sworn in as the US senator for Delaware in a Wilmington hospital in January 1973. Photograph: AP
Decades later, he would lose Beau, to brain cancer at just 46 years old. After his eldest son’s death, Biden announced he would not run for president despite pressure for him to challenge Hillary Clinton in 2016. It was widely believed that his decision then closed the door on his presidential ambitions.
“When most politicians say to a voter: ‘I feel your pain,’ it feels corny or contrived,” said Jeff Wilser, the author of The Book of Joe. “With Biden it’s real, because he truly does feel it. Much of Biden’s life has been defined by tragedy, and right now the nation is living a tragedy.”
More than 225,000 people have died from the coronavirus, and millions have lost their jobs in the economic fallout. For months this summer, US streets were filled with protesters demanding an end to the deaths of Black men and women at the hands of law enforcement.
“I think I know what you’re feeling,” Biden said, in remarks to the families of the coronavirus dead. “You feel like you’re being sucked into a black hole in the middle of your chest. It’s suffocating. Your heart is broken, and there’s nothing but a feeling of emptiness right now.”
When Trump won in 2016, Biden said he felt compelled to run again. The campaign was his third attempt to win the presidency. In his first attempt, Biden ran as the candidate of generational change but it quickly fell apart amid a plagiarism scandal involving the British Labour leader Neil Kinnock. (He is now fastidious about his citation, whether quoting his mother or the Bible.)
In his second run, Biden ran as a statesman but was outshone by a candidate several decades his junior who inspired “hope and change”: Barack Obama.
Many questioned the wisdom of his third attempt. His party – and his country - had changed, but he hadn’t.
Biden clung to that era of bipartisan comity on Capitol Hill, long after his friends in Washington DC had retreated to their political corners. And he was a white centrist in his 70s seeking the nomination of a party that was increasingly young, diverse and progressive.
Biden speaks during a campaign event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in November 2019. Photograph: Joshua Lott/Getty Images
In light of the #MeToo movement, Biden apologized for his treatment of Anita Hill in 1991, when he presided over the confirmation hearings of the supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas, in which Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment.
He has also expressed regret for the 1994 crime bill that he helped author, and which experts and critics say laid the groundwork for an era of mass incarceration that has disproportionately penalized black and brown people. He also called his support for the Iraq war a “mistake”.
Yet despite a turbulent start and a formidable Democratic field of ideological warriors and rising stars promoting progressive policies, Biden stuck to his moderate positions and appeals for bipartisanship, and he defied the odds.
He consistently portrayed himself as the anti-Trump: where the president sought division, he would find unity; where the president advocated isolationism, Biden would forge alliances; where Trump ignored science, Biden would be guided by experts. It was part of, as Obama said, Biden’s commitment to protecting Americans from all threats “foreign, domestic – and microscopic”.
Promising to be a healer at a grave moment for the nation, Biden brought together a coalition of black, Hispanic and white voters, progressives, independents and lifelong Republicans, young voters and old voters to succeed a president he warned would “forever and fundamentally change the character of this nation” if given a second term.
The next four years may be harder yet for the US, which has just survived one of the most divisive presidential campaigns in history. But Biden was confident he had finally arrived at the moment, when, quoting the Irish poet Seamus Heaney, “hope and history rhyme”.


theguardian--2020-11-07--Joe Biden's journey to the presidency – in pictures

Beau Biden , four , plays in the foreground as his father is sworn in as a senator by Senate @ @ @ @ @ , in a ceremony at a Wilmington hospital on 5 January 1973 .
Beau was @ @ @ @ @ that killed his mother and sister .
Biden ’ s father-in-law , Robert Hunter , @ @ @

Beau Biden, four, plays in the foreground as his father is sworn in as a senator by Senate secretary Frank Valeo, left, in a ceremony at a Wilmington hospital on 5 January 1973. Beau was injured in a December accident that killed his mother and sister. Biden’s father-in-law, Robert Hunter, holds the Bible
Photograph: AP


theguardian--2020-11-08--Joe Biden and Kamala Harris address Americans with message of hope – video

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have delivered their first major speeches after they declared victory in the US election .
@ @ @ @ @ the president-elect 's home town of Wilmington , Delaware , four days after polls closed @ @ @ @ @ nation have spoken .
They ’ ve delivered us a convincing victory .
A clear @ @ @ @ @ • 'Unify , not divide ' : Joe Biden addresses US in election victory speech @ @ @ @ @ Biden and Harris speak in Delaware following election win

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have offered a message of unity as the pair spoke following their election victory. Harris, who will be the first woman to be vice-president, paid tribute to her mother. For Biden, his speech was an opportunity to offer an olive branch to his political rivals after nearly four years of division under Donald Trump


theguardian--2020-11-08--'We must restore the soul of America': Joe Biden's victory speech in full – video

President-elect Joe Biden promised to 'restore the soul of America ' as he declared victory in front of a crowd @ @ @ @ @ in his home town of Wilmington . '
I pledge to be a president who @ @ @ @ @ unify , who does n't see red states or blue states but who only sees @ @ @ @ @ Addressing Trump supporters , Biden said he understood their disappointment because he had lost before @ @ @ @ @ ’ s give each other a chance ' , he said .
Neither Kamala Harris @ @ @ @ @ Trump directly in their speeches – instead , they focused on the challenges ahead , @ @ @ @ @ • Full report : Biden wins US election after four tumultuous years of Trump • @ @ @ @ @ ’ s victory : five days in five minutes - video highlights

President-elect Joe Biden promised to 'restore the soul of America' as he declared victory in front of a crowd of supporters on Saturday night in his home town of Wilmington. 'I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn't see red states or blue states but who only sees the United States.'
Addressing Trump supporters, Biden said he understood their disappointment because he had lost before. But now, 'let’s give each other a chance', he said. Biden and Kamala Harris hardly mentioned Donald Trump directly in their speeches – instead, they focused on the challenges ahead, including tackling the coronavirus pandemic


theguardian--2020-11-08--'You chose truth': Kamala Harris's historic victory speech in full – video

Kamala Harris , the first Black woman and first South Asian American woman to become vice-president-elect , began her victory @ @ @ @ @ congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis , who said , 'Democracy is not a @ @ @ @ @ act . '
A century after women won the right to vote , Harris , @ @ @ @ @ about her late mother , Shyamala Gopalan Harris .
'When she came here from India @ @ @ @ @ 19 , she maybe didn ’ t quite imagine this moment .
But she believed @ @ @ @ @ where a moment like this is possible , ' she said .
Joe Biden was @ @ @ @ @ AP announced he had won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes , putting him over @ @ @ @ @ electoral votes needed to win the White House and beat Donald Trump • The path @ @ @ @ @ victory : five days in five minutes - video highlights • Kamala Harris makes history @ @ @ @ @ elected VP

Kamala Harris, the first Black woman and first South Asian American woman to become vice-president-elect, began her victory speech by quoting the late congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis, who said, 'Democracy is not a state, it is an act.'
A century after women won the right to vote, Harris, wearing suffragette white, spoke about her late mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris. 'When she came here from India, at the age of 19, she maybe didn’t quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible,' she said.
Joe Biden was declared the president-elect after the AP announced he had won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes, putting him over the threshold of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House and beat Donald Trump


theguardian--2020-11-08--Bernie Sanders offers congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – video

Bernie Sanders , the progressive senator of Vermont who put up a strong challenge to Joe Biden in the Democratic @ @ @ @ @ , has offered congratulations to the president-elect and his running mate , Kamala Harris .
@ @ @ @ @ most important in modern American history • The path to Joe Biden ’ s victory @ @ @ @ @ minutes - video highlights • US election live : Joe Biden wins and says 'It @ @ @ @ @ to unite '

Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator of Vermont who put up a strong challenge to Joe Biden in the Democratic primaries before helping him campaign, has offered congratulations to the president-elect and his running mate, Kamala Harris. Sanders called this election the most important in modern American history


theguardian--2020-11-08--Trump golfs and poses for pictures as election is called in Biden's favour – video

Donald Trump was golfing at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia when major news outlets projected presidential rival Joe @ @ @ @ @ US election .
Trump posed for photos at the club but did not comment on @ @ @ @ @ .
The president 's camp has since refused to concede the result and released a @ @ @ @ @ is this election is far from over' • Trump heads for golf club – again @ @ @ @ @ is called • US election live : Joe Biden wins and says 'It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ '

Donald Trump was golfing at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia when major news outlets projected presidential rival Joe Biden had won the 2020 US election. Trump posed for photos at the club but did not comment on the results at the time. The president's camp has since refused to concede the result and released a statement saying the 'simple fact is this election is far from over'


theguardian--2020-11-08--‘She represents the best of us’: Black women reflect on Kamala Harris’s historic win – video

Kamala Harris made history as the first woman of color to be elected US vice-president .
'It brings tears to @ @ @ @ @ my heart , ' said the former US national security adviser Susan Rice , while @ @ @ @ @ Lance Bottoms , said : 'She represents the best of us . '
Harris , @ @ @ @ @ Jamaican heritage , is the first woman to be elected to such a position in @ @ @ @ @ Kamala Harris makes history as first woman of color elected US vice-president • US election @ @ @ @ @ and says 'it ’ s time for America to unite '

Kamala Harris made history as the first woman of color to be elected US vice-president. 'It brings tears to my eyes and joy to my heart,' said the former US national security adviser Susan Rice, while Atlanta's mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, said: 'She represents the best of us.'
Harris, who is of Indian and Jamaican heritage, is the first woman to be elected to such a position in the White House.


theguardian--2020-11-07--'America spoke': Biden and Harris supporters celebrate election triumph – video report

From California to Washington DC , supporters of Joe Biden took to the streets , banging pots and honking their @ @ @ @ @ vice-president , alongside his running mate Kamala Harris , claimed the White House with victory @ @ @ @ @ path to Joe Biden ’ s victory : five days in five minutes - video @

From California to Washington DC, supporters of Joe Biden took to the streets, banging pots and honking their car horns after the former vice-president, alongside his running mate Kamala Harris, claimed the White House with victory over Donald Trump


theguardian--2020-11-07--The path to Joe Biden’s victory: five days in five minutes - video highlights

President-elect Joe Biden has thanked the American people for their support after winning the US presidential election against Donald Trump @ @ @ @ @ record voter turnout and protests via false claims of victory and Joe and Kamala Harris @ @ @ @ @ 's the story of how the presidency was won • Biden styled himself as the @ @ @ @ @ and won

President-elect Joe Biden has thanked the American people for their support after winning the US presidential election against Donald Trump. From razor-thin margins, record voter turnout and protests via false claims of victory and Joe and Kamala Harris's congratulatory call - here's the story of how the presidency was won


theguardian--2020-11-07--The moment Fox News projected Joe Biden will win 2020 presidential election – video

Fox News announced Joe Biden would surpass the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president after calling the states @ @ @ @ @ the Democratic candidate .
• The path to Joe Biden ’ s victory : five @ @ @ @ @ video highlights • US election live : Joe Biden wins and says 'it 's time @ @ @ @ @

Fox News announced Joe Biden would surpass the 270 electoral college votes needed to become president after calling the states of Nevada and Pennsylvania for the Democratic candidate.


theguardian--2020-11-07--CNN's Van Jones brought to tears as Joe Biden wins US election – video

Political commentator Van Jones cried as CNN called the US election for Joe Biden .
Jones said : 'It 's @ @ @ @ @ this morning ... to tell your kids character matters ' .
Joe Biden won the @ @ @ @ @ its 20 electoral votes .
With Biden ’ s victory , Kamala Harris becomes the @ @ @ @ @ person of color to become the vice-president • The path to Joe Biden ’ s @ @ @ @ @ five minutes - video highlights

Political commentator Van Jones cried as CNN called the US election for Joe Biden. Jones said: 'It's easier to be a parent this morning ... to tell your kids character matters'.
Joe Biden won the presidency by clinching Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes. With Biden’s victory, Kamala Harris becomes the first woman and the first person of color to become the vice-president