WASHINGTON (TIP): More than a month after the election, top Republicans finally acknowledged Joe Biden as the next U.S. President, a collapse in GOP resistance to the millions of voters who decisively chose the Democrat. Foreign leaders joined the parade, too, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Speaking on Tuesday, December 15, from the floor of the U.S. Senate where Mr. Biden spent 36 years of his career, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated his former colleague as President-elect. The two men spoke later in the day. A similar shift unfolded in capitals across the world, where leaders including Mr. Putin and Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador acknowledged Mr. Biden’s win.
The moves came a day after electors nationwide formally cast votes affirming Mr. Biden’s victory in last month’s presidential election. And while that clears a more stable path for Mr. Biden to assume the presidency, it does little to stop Mr. Trump from continuing to try to undermine confidence in the results with baseless allegations that have been rejected by judges across the political spectrum.
As Republicans began discussing a Biden presidency more openly on Tuesday, Mr. Trump still pledged to press forward with almost nonexistent legal options.
“Tremendous evidence pouring in on voter fraud. There has never been anything like this in our Country!” Mr. Trump said in a tweet, just as members of his party were publicly recognizing Mr. Biden’s victory. The growing acknowledgement of reality in Washington was triggered by the Electoral College formally voting on Monday to seal Mr. Biden’s win with 306 votes to Mr. Trump’s 232, the same margin that Mr. Trump pulled together four years ago. The normally humdrum political ceremony didn’t change the facts of the election but was nonetheless used as political cover by leading Republicans.
“Many of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result,” Mr. McConnell said. “But our system of government has the processes to determine who will be sworn in on January 20. The Electoral College has spoken.” (Source: PTI)