Entertainment Editor Sophie Alexander gives a rundown on the incoming President’s actions to begin his presidency, and the outgoing President’s attempts to thwart this
2020 has certainly been a tumultuous year; with a devastating pandemic and glaring social injustice, it certainly didn’t stop America’s political landscape. As the world saw Joe Biden take the reigns as the new President of the United States, many would have thought they’d seen the last of Donald Trump. No more false promises, conspiracy theories and Twitter rampages – but we were very wrong.
It seems that Mr Trump has not taken his defeat lightly. Even before a result had been declared, Trump was insisting that the count should be stopped as Biden’s victory was becoming more and more a reality:
After Biden’s win was announced, Trump stated that the election was ‘far from over’ and that the ballot had been miscounted. The statement spread rumours of fraudulent behaviour which, as could be expected, riled Trump supporters who now believe the election was ‘rigged’.
As Trump has enthusiastically stated in the Tweets above, he believes he should’ve won as he collected ‘71,000,000 legal votes’. To a UK reader, we may think this is correct, but America’s voting system works incredibly differently. They use an electoral system where each state has a group of “electors” – each elector comes from a different party. Once they’ve collected all their votes, it is up to the electors to represent the public and vote for the president. It’s a rather strange system but it seems to work.
With Trump’s claims that he should have won, his supporters have gone as far as to fundraise $207.5 million since the election to have the votes be recounted. Trump himself, however, has contributed a ‘small fraction’ towards this as his campaign. Only spending $8.8 million on their ‘legal efforts’ to prove themselves as the ‘rightful winners’, despite Trump finally admitting that Biden had indeed won – though it certainly took him along to time to come to terms with it.
As Trump proceeds to take his thoughts on the election to Twitter, the social media platform has had no other option but to provide a warning before reading any of his posts:
This warning has of course only ignited Trump’s conspiracy theory that the media is trying to ‘censor’ him (despite all the false allegation he has been making). As of writing this (6/12/2020), Trump is still Tweeting about the election – it doesn’t seem like the man is prepared to back down just yet:
In response to this tirade, Biden seems to have taken all of this in his stride, condemning Trump as being one of the ‘most irresponsible presidents in American history’. The former Presidents tantrum as ‘an embarrassment’ to the new President, adding that Trump is helping his lasting legacy.
So, what will a Biden America look like? Well, not only is Biden’s Vice President, Kamala-Harris, the first African American woman in this position, but it has recently been announced that his new media team shall be all-female. His transition into office has already seen him aiming to ‘build a diverse administration that reflects the country’. It’s certainly a much greater step than the 2017 abortion order image of Trump and his board of men deciding what’s best for the female body.
Biden has stated his excitement with this new team, stating:
“I am proud to announce today the first senior White House communications team comprised entirely of women. These qualified, experienced communicators bring diverse perspectives to their work and a shared commitment to building this country back better.”
Since one of the most important aspects to handle during this transition period is the daily security briefing, Biden has even appointed Alejandro Mayorkas as Homeland Security secretary; the first Latino and first immigrant to take the Cabinet post.
With all this in mind, the progressiveness is admirable, but we will have to see in time whether these people can deliver the “Great America” that was promised so long ago.
Header designed by volunteer designer Annabel Smith
Article edited by Connor Wade – Politics Editor
