A new era

PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN AND VICE PRESIDENT-ELECT KAMALA HARRIS CALL FOR UNITY AFTER A DRAMATIC US ELECTION

- Jennie Noonan

Breaking the record for most votes ever cast for a US presidential candidate, Joe Biden capped off a bitterly contested and wildly controversial election with a speech humbly calling for harmony. “What I must admit has surprised me, tonight we’re seeing all over this nation, all cities in all parts of the country, indeed across the world, an outpouring of joy, of hope of renewed faith in tomorrow, bring a better day,” he said on November 7 from Wilmington, Delaware, in his first appearance since he was projected as the winner over President Donald Trump. “I’m humbled by the trust and confidence you’ve placed in me. I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but to unify.”

As neck-and-neck results trickled in over five nail-biting days, the world was on edge. “This is like being awake during your own surgery,” posted talk show host Jimmy Kimmel. Still, no-one was more agitated than the sitting president. Despite results not being known yet in several states, Trump turned to social media early on to claim victory, leading Twitter (not for the first time) to label his posts as possible election misinformation.

“Can you imagine waking up on a Saturday morning and the headlines aren’t about some late-night tweet-storm?” Joe Biden’s wife Dr Jill Biden sarcastically tweeted on November 4. “I can.”

Trump first doubled down on his baseless fraud claims at a White House press conference on November 5. “If you count the legal votes, I easily win,” he said, as several US Networks cut away from the coverage. “This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election, to rig an election and we can’t let that happen.”