By: Jonathan Martin and Katie Glueck – New York Times
Joe Biden gained ground in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Georgia on Thursday as the slow-moving vote count in those contested battleground states moved him closer to capturing an electoral majority and defeating President Donald Trump.
As an anxious country waited to learn the winner, the two candidates emerged toward day’s end to make remarks that were dramatically different in tone and content.
In a brief appearance before reporters in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said he remained confident that he would ultimately prevail but did not lay claim to the White House.
“Democracy’s sometimes messy,” Biden said. “It sometimes requires a little patience as well. But that patience has been rewarded now for more than 240 years with a system of governance that’s been the envy of the world.”
He urged calm and emphasized that “each ballot must be counted.”
Hours later, in a stunning news conference, Trump lied about the vote-counting underway in several states, conjuring up a conspiracy of “legal” and “illegal” ballots being tabulated and claiming without evidence that states were trying to deny him re-election.
“They’re trying to steal an election, they’re trying to rig an election,” the president said from the White House briefing room. He also baselessly suggested nefarious behavior in Philadelphia and Detroit, cities with large Black populations that he called “two of the most corrupt political places.”
Mostly reading from notes, Trump’s remarks were at times more valedictory than defiant. Far from insisting that he would stay in power, he used much of his appearance to complain about pre-election polls, demonize the media and try to put the best face on Tuesday’s results, trumpeting his party’s congressional gains. He did not take questions from reporters.
Republican leaders offered no immediate response to Trump’s remarks, but a small group of maverick lawmakers in the party denounced his comments, seeking to reassure voters that there was no reason to believe the integrity of the election had been undermined.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a frequent critic of Trump, offered the sharpest rebuke, calling his speech “insane” and demanding that he stop “spreading debunked misinformation.”
Yet there were also Republican lawmakers who rushed to Trump’s defense. “Radical Dems tried to do away with law and order and are now trying to do away with law and order at the ballot box,” wrote Rep. Roger Williams of Texas.
