US President Joe Biden following a speech at the White House, November 7, 2024 in Washington (AFP / SAUL LOEB)
Joe Biden pledged Thursday to ensure a “peaceful and orderly” transfer of power with Donald Trump, his predecessor and soon-to-be successor in the White House, who said he was “thinking” of speaking soon to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Republican made his first major appointment on Thursday: Susie Wiles, architect of his campaign, will be his chief of staff, an ultra-strategic position which had never been occupied by a woman, he stressed.
“I hope that we can, no matter who we vote for, see ourselves as fellow citizens and not as adversaries,” Joe Biden said during his first speech since the Republican's resounding victory in the presidential election.
The American president, who will go this month to the G20 summit in Brazil and to that of the Apec (Asia-Pacific) countries in Peru, with a detour through the Amazon rainforest, ends fifty years of political life with a global humiliation.
He risks seeing his record, particularly diplomatic and environmental, unraveled by his successor.
– “Resume contact” –
“I think we're going to talk” with Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump told NBC, while Joe Biden, Ukraine's first supporter in the face of Russia's invasion, broke ties with his Russian counterpart .
The Russian president, for his part, said he was “ready to resume contact” with Donald Trump, who will be sworn in on January 20.
Joe Biden left his place as candidate in July to his vice-president Kamala Harris.
Cartogram showing the number of American electoral college seats won in each state by Kamala Harris and Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential election, according to American media, as of November 7 at 10:45 a.m. GMT (AFP / Samuel BARBOSA)
The outgoing president is accused in his camp of having allowed the resounding return of Donald Trump, this sworn enemy whom he portrayed as a danger to democracy, by clinging too long to a hopeless candidacy.
His spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, bombarded with questions about possible regrets, said Thursday that she was leaving the subject to “experts”, and assured that Joe Biden was “proud” of his record.
She ruled that Kamala Harris had been the victim of a “global” trend which saw outgoing leaders dismissed by voters once the page on the Covid-19 pandemic had been turned.
– Trump “impatient” –
Joe Biden invited Donald Trump to the White House on an unspecified date to prepare for the arrival of the next administration, in which controversial figures such as Elon Musk or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could play important roles.
Trump, who never acknowledged his defeat in 2020 and who had shunned Biden's inauguration ceremony, “is looking forward to this meeting” at the White House, according to his team.
Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, during the results of the US presidential election, November 6, 2024 (AFP / Jim WATSON)
The real estate tycoon – target of two assassination attempts during the campaign, charged and sentenced in criminal and civil cases – has 74 days to put his government team in place.
His first mandate had been a waltz of ministers and advisors who successively fell into disgrace.
RFK Jr., nephew of the assassinated president and former independent candidate aligned with Donald Trump, could be entrusted with responsibilities in terms of public health.
Notoriously critical of vaccination, he assured Thursday on NBC that he “would not take away anyone's vaccines” but judged that Americans should be able to “decide individually”.
Another key figure is expected to be billionaire Elon Musk, who campaigned very actively for him. The president-elect could charge the richest man in the world with fundamentally reorganizing the federal administration.
– Full powers –
Having left in chaos in January 2021, the 78-year-old tribune achieved an incredible comeback by convincing a majority that he understood the socio-economic and security concerns of everyday life.
American Vice President Kamala Harris during a speech in Washington, after her defeat in the American presidential election, November 6, 2024 (AFP / Brendan SMIALOWSKI)
Donald Trump promised Americans to make their lives better through tax cuts and customs duties.
Beijing has warned that there will be “no winners in a trade war” with Washington.
The Republican also said he would carry out “massive” expulsions of irregular migrants.
On Thursday, he said there was “no choice” but to see the project through.
He will be able to rely on the Senate, which the Republicans took back from the Democrats, and possibly on the House of Representatives, where his party is on track to retain the majority.
This would give him, counting the conservative majority on the Supreme Court, almost full powers.
