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WASHINGTON, D.C. — For only a few minutes on Saturday evening, the huge crowd celebrating the election outcomes at Black Lives Matter Plaza quieted down and turned their consideration to the loudspeakers in entrance of St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Joe Biden was addressing the nation for the primary time because the president-elect.
“It’s time to place away the tough rhetoric, decrease the temperature, see one another once more, hear to one another once more,” stated Biden, who was talking from Delaware. “To make progress, we’ve to cease treating our opponents as our enemies. They don’t seem to be our enemies. They’re People.”
Some cheered on the notion. Others booed. One lady rolled her eyes.
This might be indicative of the huge activity that lies at Biden’s ft. After essentially the most hostile presidential election in latest reminiscence, the president-elect is now chargeable for bringing collectively a bitterly divided nation.
However Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) believes he’s the best man for the job. In an interview with San José Highlight, the congresswoman defined Biden can work with these on either side of the aisle.
“He actually listens to different individuals, and he tries to search out frequent floor,” she stated. “That’s one thing that we haven’t had within the White Home for a while.”
Biden, who spent almost 40 years within the Senate, shaped notable friendships with a number of Republicans, together with the late Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. Just a few distinguished Republicans, like Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and former president George W. Bush, had been additionally fast to congratulate Biden for his victory over President Donald Trump on Saturday.
“I’m hopeful that we’ll get a brand new mode of habits (within the White Home) and that the nation can heal,” Lofgren stated. “It’s actually so disappointing that individuals are at one another’s throats. There isn’t any want for that.”
Even when Republicans hold onto their majority in the Senate, Lofgren is hopeful the 2 events and the brand new president will be capable to work collectively. On condition that the nation is battling a lethal pandemic, the congresswoman suspects many People will rapidly lose endurance with any elected official who refuses to succeed in throughout the aisle.
“We’re going to try to have laws that serves America effectively. I might hope that members of each events would work towards that aim,” she stated. “…Some points are simply going to be a disagreement as a result of they’re a matter of precept. However should you can’t agree on subject primary, that ought to by no means preserve you from going forward with subject two, three or 4.”
The congresswoman additionally acknowledged Trump’s latest habits might have unnerved lots of her constituents. However she urged everybody to stay calm, no matter whether or not the president ever concedes.
“The American voters make that call, not him,” Lofgren stated. “We now have a brand new president who shall be sworn in and that’s it. We now have to drag collectively as a rustic now, get forward of the pandemic and heal our wounds.”
America has an extended historical past of peaceable transfers of energy. President George H.W. Bush, the latest president apart from Trump to lose his bid for reelection, even famously penned a heat letter to President Invoice Clinton congratulating him on his victory and welcoming him to the White Home.
However the present president has damaged that custom.
Trump falsely claimed final week he had gained the election, at the same time as votes had been nonetheless being counted in main battleground states. He has repeatedly accused Democrats of election fraud and refuses to concede.
His feedback rapidly sparked robust reactions nationwide. A few of his supporters swarmed voting facilities in a number of states to protest, a police chief in Arkansas referred to as for loss of life to the Democrats and former White Home chief strategist Steve Bannon shared a video on social media pushing for Dr. Anthony Fauci and FBI Director Christopher Wray to be beheaded.
Whereas a handful of Republican legislators acknowledged Biden’s victory, much more have stayed silent or actively supported Trump’s proper to battle the election outcomes.
“Each recount should be accomplished. Each authorized problem should be heard,” Home Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy (R-California) wrote on Twitter the day after Biden’s victory. “Then and solely then does America determine who gained the race.”
Some members of Trump’s cupboard have gone a step additional. Throughout a information convention this week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated there shall be a “clean transition to a second Trump administration.”
Dr. Meg Gudgeirsson, a lecturer of U.S. historical past at Santa Clara College, stated the nation is clearly battling a deep political divide. However she identified this isn’t precisely new.
“It’s actually not our first divisive election,” she stated, including that even the four-way presidential race of 1824 left many voters disgruntled after it established no clear winner. “We now have a really lengthy historical past of nice divisiveness.”
However Gudgeirsson is worried by the president’s refusal to acknowledge the election outcomes. It alerts to residents that they now not have to just accept election outcomes that they don’t like, she stated, which is an alarming precedent to set in a democracy.
Gudgeirsson stated it additionally seems many elected officers now not even need to try and compromise with members of the opposite get together. The rhetoric has change into so heated, she expects many lawmakers worry it could solely upset their base.
There was the same political discord all through the 1850s, she added, and that in the end culminated within the Civil Struggle.
The historian suggested People to take time to pause and replicate on the previous.
“I feel our nation works finest after we bear in mind what we’ve overcome collectively,” she stated.
Contact Katie King at [email protected] or observe @KatieKingCST on Twitter.
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