- President Donald Trump is refusing to accept his loss to Joe Biden.
- But the world is moving on. Many in the US and around the world are paying less attention to Trump since a second term slipped from his grasp.
- The Biden transition team has forged ahead in the meantime, and Biden yesterday said that it doesn’t matter whether Trump concedes.
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It’s been five days since President Donald Trump lost his reelection bid, and Insider projected that Joe Biden would become the 46th president of the United States.
Trump has refused to concede defeat, and the Republican party is backing groundless his allegations of mass voter fraud. But it is becoming clearer that the rest of the world is moving on.
Here are some striking examples:
- Trump is losing Fox News. The network has refused to uncritically circulate the president’s claim that the election was stolen from him. On Monday, Fox cut away from White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany as she repeated baseless voter fraud allegations in a press briefing.
- Despite Trump disputing the result of the election, world leaders have lined up to offer their congratulations to Biden.
They include world leaders with whom Trump clashed, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel. But also those who Trump praised in, notably UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, or allies like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Their US policies will now be focused on the Biden administration to come.
- Though Trump has blocked the formal transition process, Biden has continued to assert himself. The President-elect has appointed officials to key posts, and on Tuesday said that Trump’s lack of cooperation won’t slow him down.
- Even some of Trump’s aides have privately said his efforts to contest the election are hopeless. That said, many leading Republicans have supported Trump’s baseless fraud claims, and refused to acknowledge Biden’s win.
- At the same time, social media platforms are becoming fiercer in blocking Trump’s message. During the election, Twitter and Facebook both stepped up fact-checking of his posts, and have restricted their reach.
According to multiple reports, those close to Trump consider it unlikely that he will ever formally concede the election. But with his grip on power getting looser by the day, it matters less and less.