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WILMINGTON: President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday (Nov. 10) called President Donald Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his electoral defeat a “shame,” but dismissed the confrontation as unimportant.
“I just think it’s a shame, frankly,” Biden said when asked what he thought about Trump’s refusal to acknowledge defeat in the Nov.3 election.
READ: Biden tells world leaders ‘America is back’, but Pompeo holds on
READ: Trump says ‘elections are far from over’, campaign will challenge results in court
“How can I say this tactfully? I don’t think it will help the president’s legacy,” Biden told reporters in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
A week after the US election, Trump remained locked in the White House, pushing an alternate reality that he is about to win and filing voter fraud lawsuits that have so far been backed only by the flimsiest evidence.
Meanwhile, Biden mostly ignored Trump.
“The fact that they are not willing to acknowledge that we won at this point is not very important in our planning,” Biden said.
The Democrat noted that despite Trump’s attempts to hamper his transition to power, he was increasingly a waiting president.
In his latest exchanges with international leaders, he spoke with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin on Tuesday.
When asked what his message was for them, he said: “I am letting you know that America is back. We will get back in the game.
INTRANSIGENCE
Trump’s attempt to hang on to power has become all-consuming for the man who often publicly mocks his rivals as “losers.”
“WE WILL WIN!” the Republican president tweeted early Tuesday, referring to his so far unsuccessful demands. “WATCH THE MASSIVE ABUSE OF TICKET COUNTING.”
READ: As Trump challenges Biden’s victory, attorney general gives green light to fraud investigations
Emphasizing the atmosphere of intransigence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told an irritating news conference that he was preparing for “a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.”
Since Election Day, Trump has made few public appearances and appears to have neglected normal presidential duties.
His only known activities outside the White House have been playing golf twice over the weekend, after the results came in.
Typically, routine presidential intelligence briefings have been off the daily schedule. He has not mentioned the dramatic spike in the COVID-19 pandemic across the country.
And his once almost daily press conferences, interviews with Fox News, or impromptu question-and-answer sessions with White House reporters have dried up.
Instead, Trump has spent much of his time tweeting, mostly about what he says is the stolen election.
Trump’s only significant presidential action has been the abrupt firing of Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Monday, which he announced on Twitter.
TRANSITION LOCKED
Exactly four years ago on Tuesday, Trump had just scored his surprise victory over Hillary Clinton and toured the White House for the first time as a guest of Barack Obama.
That courtesy to presidents-elect is an old tradition, highlighting the nation’s almost sacred respect for the peaceful transfer of power.
Not only has Trump not invited Biden to speak in the Oval Office, but he is blocking the Democrat’s access to the facilities, funding and expertise that usually come in a ready-made package to help the incoming leader.
READ: By refusing to budge, Trump blocks transition cooperation
The release of this transition aid is controlled by the Director of the General Services Administration, Emily Murphy, who was appointed by Trump.
Biden, who won with a record number of votes but acknowledges that nearly half of the electorate backed Trump, is avoiding a fight.
He said Tuesday that he was not in favor of taking legal action to force Trump to comply and said with a smile, “Mr. President, I look forward to speaking with you.”
Biden has established a coronavirus task force, is investigating potential Cabinet members, and is delivering his latest political speech on Tuesday, this time on the fate of the Obamacare health care plan that Trump wants the Supreme Court to dismantle.
The last major foreign leader to come forward with congratulations, ignoring Trump’s claim that he won last Tuesday, was Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who referred to Biden’s “electoral success.”
REPUBLICANS BACK TO TRUMP
Washington is rife with speculation about who, if anyone, in Trump’s inner circle will ultimately persuade him to leave.
Former President George W. Bush, the only living Republican former president, congratulated Biden on his victory, but it is an outlier in a party dominated by the still very popular Trump.
READ: Corporate America says it’s ready to work with Biden
On Monday, the Republican leader in Congress, Sen. Mitch McConnell, said Trump was “100 percent within his rights” to challenge the election in court.
Neither lawsuit appears to have the potential to change the outcome of the votes, and even a planned recount of Biden’s victory in Georgia, or anywhere else, is unlikely to change fundamental mathematics.
But Trump added a potential new weapon to his crusade against the results on Monday when his attorney general, Bill Barr, agreed to authorize investigations into “specific allegations” of fraud.
Barr added a warning that “misleading, speculative, fanciful or implausible claims should not be a basis for initiating federal investigations.”
However, Barr’s unusual intervention in the dispute raised concerns that Trump will go even further in his efforts. The Justice Department’s top election crimes prosecutor, Richard Pilger, resigned in protest.
Biden’s inauguration is January 20.
