Joe Biden: "Let's put an end to this dire age of demonization"
President-elect advocates uniting the country and leaving behind the division of the Trump era in his first message to the nation
Months of the campaign and 90 hours of tension from when the polls closed until it was clarified who was the winner last night gave way to Joe Biden's victory speech last night. "Let's put an end to this dire era of demonization," proposed the Democrat in his first message to the nation in his capacity as president-elect of the United States, crowned by a shower of confetti and fireworks over Wilmington before hundreds of supporters.
“I ran for office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, to bring America back to being respected in the world and to unite as a nation,” explained Biden. “We have to stop treating our opponents as enemies. They are not our enemies. They are Americans, ”he insisted, aware that he should govern a country as divided or more than four years ago, when Donald Trump was elected president. The televisions showed not a few people bursting into tears of emotion when hearing his words, which aspire to be a balm that heals a nation divided in two.
Biden avoided polemicizing or directly quoting Trump, who refuses to accept his defeat and claims to be the victim of a large-scale fraud, but underscored the legitimacy of his victory, precipitated on Saturday after reaching the 270 Electoral College votes required with his victory. in the state of Pennsylvania. “The people of this nation have spoken. It has given us a clear and convincing victory, a victory for the people, ”said Biden on the same day that marked the 48th anniversary of his election as senator, the beginning of a political career that before this election had culminated in his eight years as a senator. vice president of Barack Obama, the first black president of the United States.
Biden avoided polemicizing or directly quoting Trump, who refuses to accept his defeat
Biden made history with his election. He was 29 years old and a few days short of reaching the legal age to take possession of his seat on Capitol Hill. Now he is about to turn 78 and become the oldest president in US history to reach the White House, succeeding another septuagenarian Trump. But the Democrat does not arrive alone. With him, Senator Kamala Harris, 56, a former California attorney general, the first woman, the first black woman and the first person of Asian origin to be elected vice president, reaches the top of American power.
“I may be the first woman to hold this position but I will not be the last. Because all the girls who are seeing me tonight see that this is a country of possibilities, "proclaimed Harris in his presentation speech for Biden, whom he praised as a person" with a big heart "capable of" healing "a country in mourned and divided. "A person whose experience with losses gives direction to her life - said Harris referring to the tragedies that have marked her life - will help us as a country to find ours."
The daughter of an immigrant from Jamaica, an economist, and a biologist from India who met in California during the civil rights era, Harris began her speech by paying tribute to the late Congressman John Lewis. "He said that democracy is not a state, it is an act", that is, "it is only as strong as our will to fight for it," recalled the vice president-elect. Dressed in a white jacket suit honoring the suffragettes who won approval for women's suffrage in the United States 100 years ago, Harris paid tribute to all the women, especially African-Americans and her late mother, who paved her way to get to this day.
"Democracy itself and the soul of America were at stake in this election," Harris noted.
"Democracy itself and the soul of America were at stake in this election" but voters "have signaled the beginning of a new day for America," stressed the vice president-elect. Biden has always said that he sees himself as "a bridge" between generations, a transitional president. As commander-in-chief number two, Harris is now one step closer to becoming the first African-American president of the United States.
After the confetti, fireworks, and weekend celebrations, Biden and Harris are going to get to work right away. The transition, whether Trump accepts it or not, is underway. This Monday, the president-elect will form a working group on the coronavirus pandemic to begin to outline a national strategy to bring it under control. Covid-19 has claimed the lives of more than 235,000 Americans, but during Trump's presidency the country has been unable to agree on how to strike a balance between public health considerations and the need to keep the economy running. It will be the first major task of the 46th US president.
