‘Not of much consequence’: Biden dismisses Trump’s refusal to acknowledge election result as an ‘embarrassment’

President-elect smiles when vowing to take control of government on 20 January

President-elect Joe Biden brushed off both Donald Trump’s refusal to concede defeat in the presidential election and Republican lawmakers’ refusal to call him the next commander-in-chief, calling the incumbent an “embarrassment”. 

“We are already beginning the transition. We are well underway. The inability by the administration [to concede] … does not change the dynamic at all what we are able to do,” Mr Biden said during remarks on the 2011 Affordable Care Act in Wilmington, Delaware.

“We’re going to be going and moving along in a consistent manner putting together our administration and the White House,” he said, cracking a wide smile several times when asked about Mr Trump’s legal challenges and attacks on the election system. “Nothing’s going to stop that. I’m confident they’re not being willing to acknowledge we won is not of much consequence to our planning and what we’re able to do between now and January 20th.”

That’s the day the president-elect is on track to be sworn in, despite Mr Trump’s challenges. No federal judge has yet to side with the Trump campaign in a single case that has so far been heard. Other legal experts have called the challenges thin and specious, long shots one and all.

The Trump team is not even confident the challenges, if they voided thousands of votes in key swing states, would be enough to flip those states into Mr Trump’s campaign and give him a second term, Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said Monday. 

Mr Biden took several questions, something he did not always do during the general campaign.

He answered one by saying he is telling world leaders calling to congratulate him that “America is back in the game”.

Mr Trump governed under an “America first philosophy,” and rejected international institutions and global pacts like the Iran nuclear deal. Mr Biden has long been a proponent of such things, and his election means it is certain Washington will again take a leading role in the world.