WITH 290 electoral votes and ahead by nearly 5 million in popular votes, Democratic Party candidate, Joe Biden won the US presidential election over Republican incumbent, Donald Trump.
As this edition went to bed, however, Trump, who is seeking a second term, is yet to concede defeat.
Based on the monitoring provided by the Associated Press (AP), Biden has won 26 of the 50 states of the Union and 290 electoral votes– more than half of the 538 electoral votes needed– to become the 46TH president of the world’s most powerful nation, while Trump only garnered 214 electoral votes.
His victory also signals the return of the Democratic Party to the White House after a four year hiatus, when Trump beat former US state secretary and senator, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 US presidential elections.
Biden’s win is also historic as this was his third try at the presidency while his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, is also the first woman to be elected as US Vice President.
Only a day before, Biden, speaking to Americans, had still refused to claim the presidency with the votes in the so-called swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, yet to be counted, although he already has a commanding 264 electoral votes compared to 213 for Trump.
In his speech finally acknowledging his victory, Biden simply said, “The people has spoken… they delivered for us a convincing victory.”
Biden also said: “I pledge to be a President who seeks not to divide, but to unify. Who doesn’t see Red and Blue states, but a United States.”
As reported by international media, Trump’s “strategy” now is to file legal cases—and which he had threatened to do to begin with—to contest the result of the election and leaving up the final decision to the US Supreme Court. This would allow him to remain in the White House on a technicality.
The legacy of John Adams
Although most reports stated that Trump’s refusal to concede defeat and prepare to leave the White House has “no precedence,” the records also showed that in 1801, John Adams, the second president of the United States, had refused to concede defeat and leave the White House to the winner, Thomas Jefferson.
However, after Jefferson was finally sworn into office, the White House staff simply took matters into their own hands and started carting off the personal belongings of Adams.
They also stopped taking any more order from Adams, together with the other independent organs of state.
That Trump could face the same humiliation suffered by Adams is a possibility after Biden’s campaign spokesman, Andrew Bates, jokingly said, “The United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House.”