The new president will be busy – especially as he wrestles with the fallout from the Trump administration
As the coronavirus pandemic tore through the US, Joe Biden’s most important promise to the American people was a policy platform taken for granted prior the Trump presidency: believe science.
Continue reading...President-elect warned the US is ‘facing a very dark winter’ as 200,000 more could die before a vaccine becomes available
Joe Biden vowed on Monday to spare no effort in tackling the coronavirus pandemic as soon as he enters the White House and warned the US is “facing a very dark winter”.
Continue reading...The Silver state has not gone Republican in a presidential election since 2004 and Clark county is the bedrock of Democrats’ success
For a brief moment last Friday, it appeared that Nevada could carry Joe Biden over the electoral college finish line.
America was three days into its long wait to learn who would be its next president and all eyes were on the officials counting outstanding ballots in Clark county. Major news outlets interviewed anxious voters waiting in line with their photo IDs to “cure” their ballots, a process which allows them to resolve issues with their voting papers.
Continue reading...
Another adviser to Donald Trump has reportedly tested positive for coronavirus, amid an apparent outbreak among the president’s team.
According to Bloomberg News, David Bossie has now tested positive for the virus.
BREAKING: Trump outside adviser David Bossie tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday, sources tell me.
Susan Collins has become one of the few Republican lawmakers to congratulate Joe Biden on his victory in the presidential election.
“First, I would offer my congratulations to President-elect Biden on his apparent victory – he loves this country, and I wish him every success. Presidential transitions are important, and the President-elect and the Vice-President-elect should be given every opportunity to ensure that they are ready to govern on January 20th,” Collins said in a new statement.
My statement on the 2020 Presidential election results: pic.twitter.com/8NY1WpaJpC
Continue reading...Britain risks isolation as the president-elect prioritises relations with the EU. The government must understand the signs of the new times
The Irish question has played havoc with the best-laid plans of hardline Brexiters. Since 2016, successive Conservative governments have struggled to square the circle of keeping the United Kingdom intact, while avoiding the reimposition of a hard border on the island of Ireland. The border issue has been the achilles heel of Brexit, the thorn in the side of true believers in a “clean break” with the EU. So the prospect of an Irish-American politician on his way to the White House, just as Boris Johnson attempts to finagle his way round the problem, is an 11th-hour plot twist to savour.
Joe Biden’s views on Brexit are well known. The president-elect judges it to be a damaging act of self-isolation; strategically unwise for Britain and unhelpful to American interests in Europe. But it is the impact of the UK’s departure from the EU on Ireland that concerns Mr Biden most. This autumn, he was forthright on the subject of the government’s controversial internal market bill, which was again debated on Monday in the House of Lords. The proposed legislation effectively reneges on a legally binding protocol signed with the EU, which would impose customs checks on goods travelling between Britain and Northern Ireland. In doing so, it summons up the spectre of a hard border on the island of Ireland, undermining the Good Friday agreement. Mr Biden is adamant that the GFA must not “become a casualty of Brexit”. He is expected to convey that message, in forceful terms, when his first telephone conversation with Mr Johnson eventually takes place.
Continue reading...President-elect Joe Biden said the months ahead would still be very difficult for the United States, despite the encouraging news about Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine.
Biden said it would be 'many months' before the vaccine was widely available, warning that another 200,000 Americans could die of coronavirus in the coming months.
Biden also spoke about his coronavirus taskforce and urged Americans to wear face masks to limit the spread of the virus
US saw more than 100,000 cases per day for five days, and expert warns of 100,000 more deaths by January
The US recorded more than 100,000 new coronavirus cases for a fifth day in a row on Sunday, as total cases neared 10m and the death toll passed 237,000.
Related: Covid-19 vaccine candidate is 90% effective, says manufacturer
Continue reading...The left is so used to losing that we have become sore winners. While the US has not been fixed overnight, there is reason to feel hope again
There are many things Joe Biden is not. He is not young. He is not an anti-establishment peacenik. He is not unbeholden to huge, anonymous donors. He is not free of accusations of using male privilege to be gropey with women. He is neither a radical, nor exciting. He is not a brilliant orator. He is not Bernie Sanders. And on it goes: the disappointments pile up thick and fast.
But he is not a loser – and he is not Donald Trump. So let us have a moment, however brief, of celebration.
Continue reading...While president Xi remains silent, Chinese residents voice cautious optimism for better relations between the two superpowers
While China’s top officials remained conspicuously silent on Joe Biden’s presidential victory over Donald Trump, Chinese residents celebrated and held out cautious optimism for improved US-China ties.
On Monday, Biden’s speech after being declared the projected winner was among the most viewed topics on social media, with the hashtag “Biden national address” viewed more than one billion times on Weibo.
Continue reading...Trump’s brutal policies and spread of misinformation have divided the US. Uniting the country will be Biden’s biggest task
As the result was finally called, the end of his presidency confirmed, Donald Trump teed off on a crisp, autumnal Saturday afternoon at his private golf club in Virginia.
The president was in the midst of a four-day mission to spread baseless misinformation about election integrity in an attempt to subvert US democracy.
Continue reading...President may try to use his power to push for more conservative court appointments or environmental deregulations
Donald Trump may never concede that he legitimately lost the 2020 election and the US presidency.
That in itself will probably not matter too much, but he may use his final months in office before Joe Biden takes office in January, 2021 to push the divisive politics that have become his calling card. He may even boycott Biden’s inauguration ceremony.
Continue reading...The Kentucky senator revels in the nickname the Grim Reaper and tried to frustrate the previous Democratic president at every turn
After celebrating the winning of a Joe Biden presidency, Democrats are waking to the hangover of figuring out how to govern under the shadow of a runaway pandemic and the potential for gridlock imposed by the man who likes to call himself the Grim Reaper, the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell.
Continue reading...Federal parliament returns; Asio chief warns of ‘real threat’ from foreign spies; incoming Biden administration vows to sign back up to Paris agreement. Follow all the updates
The Senate has just voted up a motion rebuking the government over the weakness of its preferred model of National Integrity Commission.
The motion was voted up 28 to 25 with Labor, Centre Alliance, Rex Patrick, Jacqui Lambie and One Nation combining to warn the Coalition over the draft bill’s inadequacies.
Greens senator Larissa Waters motion stated:
Senate just passed a motion 28:25 for a strong corruption watchdog, listing all of the features the Gov’s weak model leaves out. A defacto vote on the Gov’s bill - the Senate can see through the fig leaf of the Gov’s belated and pathetic model that wouldn’t stop a thing! #auspol
Richard Marles says Labor is not pursing a royal commission into the Murdoch media empire and will “let Kevin speak for himself”.
Andrew Leigh officially tabled the Kevin Rudd-led petition, which had more than 500,000 signatures, in the parliament today.
We have talked about our position in relation to the media over a long period of time. Now, this is not something we have been considering. This is something Kevin Rudd has been pursuing in his capacity as a private citizen. I mean, I obviously note it is a significant petition in terms of those who have signed up to it and it has been presented to the parliament appropriately. That is where the matter is that in terms of the opposition.
Continue reading...Optimism abounds as leaders from Fiji to Papua New Guinea welcome the new US president-elect
Joe Biden’s presidential ascension had not even been settled when Fiji’s forthright prime minister was already urging greater US action on climate change from the incoming American leader.
“Congratulations Joe Biden,” Frank Bainimarama tweeted on Saturday afternoon. “Together, we have a planet to save from a climate emergency and a global economy to build back better from Covid-19.”
Continue reading...Donald Trump’s resolve not to accept the result of the presidential election appeared unshaken on Sunday, as he continued to promote conspiracy theories about the vote, with little outward sign that anyone in his inner circle was prepared to talk him into conceding.
Related: Who will tell Trump to go? Not Melania or Jared, reports say
Continue reading...Writing in the Guardian, Labour leader says strategy that won back votes in the US can work in UK
The Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has urged his party to learn from Joe Biden’s “broad coalition” which won back voters who turned away from the Democrats four years ago, pointing to the president-elect’s emphasis on “family, community and security”.
Starmer, an enthusiastic supporter of Biden’s bid who shares a WhatsApp group with his staff called “Let’s Go Joe”, said the victory of the former vice-president and his running mate Kamala Harris would “fill the void in global leadership” and was a vote “for a better, more optimistic future”.
Continue reading...With victory speech, California senator brings tears to eyes of crowd in Delaware
Kamala Harris accepted her place in history on Saturday night with a speech honoring the women who she said “paved the way for this moment tonight”, when the daughter of Jamaican and Indian immigrants would stand before the nation as the vice-president-elect of the United States.
Related: 'We are so proud': San Francisco Bay Area celebrates Kamala Harris, hometown hero
Continue reading...
Here are some details on the reaction to Biden’s win in Fiji, Papua New Guinea and other Pacific nations, from Ben Doherty, the Guardian’s Pacific editor:
Joe Biden’s presidential ascension had not even been settled when Fiji’s forthright prime minister was already urging greater US action on climate change from the incoming American leader.
Related: Pacific nations herald Biden presidency amid hope for action on climate emergency
There are a number of troubling statistics out today on the current state of Covid-19 in the US, the most urgent crisis Biden will inherit. Reuters has published an analysis of where things stand in the worsening pandemic in America, as the country nears 10m cases, becoming the first nation in the world to surpass that figure. Some specifics from the news agency’s report:
Related: Coronavirus live news: US nears 10m cases as global infections pass 50m
Continue reading...President-elect Biden says ‘Plan will be to built on bedrock of science’ and promised ‘to spare no effort’ to fight pandemic
As President-elect Joe Biden announced that he would name his own coronavirus taskforce on Monday, the US recorded its fourth consecutive record daily total of new Covid cases, close to 130,000.
Continue reading...The UK prime minister insisted there is scope for cooperation with the incoming Biden administration as he congratulated the Democrat and his running mate Kamala Harris.
Biden, who has Irish ancestry, has made it clear there will be no agreement on a post-Brexit UK-US trade deal if a no-deal outcome threatens the Good Friday agreement.
‘There is far more that unites the government of this country and governments in Washington at any stage than divides us,’ Johnson said.