Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States after he cleared the 270 electoral college mark to guarantee victory. While counting is still ongoing in some states, the gap between Biden and Trump is now too great to be made up and, therefore, Biden is assured the White House.
Kamala Harris, Biden’s running mate, will become the first woman to be vice-president and the first woman of colour to hold either of these offices. Should Biden be unable to fulfil his duties over the next 4 years, Harris would become President .
Donald Trump though is thus far refusing to concede defeat in the election claiming widescale fraud. There is however absolutely no evidence of this fraud taking place in a systematic manner with even the Republican party hierarchy moving away from such outlandish claims. Trump is now expected to launch legal challenges that will aim to have ballots recounted or to have ballots struck off as being ineligible. Legal experts have so far said that these will be dismissed almost instantly.
Karl Rove, a senior Republican strategist, and a Trump supporter, said of the soon to be ex-president's claims:
"There are suspicious partisans across the spectrum who believe widespread election fraud is possible. Some hanky-panky always goes on, and there are already reports of poll watchers in Philadelphia not being allowed to do their jobs. But stealing hundreds of thousands of votes would require a conspiracy on the scale of a James Bond movie. That isn’t going to happen."
Adam Kinzinger, an elected Republican official from Illinois tweeted in the direction of Trump saying:
"We want every vote counted, yes every legal vote (of course). But, if you have legit concerns about fraud present EVIDENCE and take it to court. STOP Spreading debunked misinformation... This is getting insane."
We want every vote counted, yes every legal vote (of course). But, if you have legit concerns about fraud present EVIDENCE and take it to court. STOP Spreading debunked misinformation... This is getting insane.
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) November 6, 2020
It is now thought that it is highly-unlikely Trump will make a concession speech or facilitate a normal exchange of power. Whether he will even continue as President and carry out his duties over the next 8 weeks is also unclear. Some have even suggested that he may face a criminal trial over his actions while President.
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