Bring down the temperature, Biden urges Americans

JOE Biden dubbed his successor's Oval Office triumph a "setback" yesterday, but urged Americans to unite and tone down the temperature.

- Christopher Bucktin

The outgoing US President made his plea in the wake of the divisive election, in which his Vice-President, Kamala Harris, was savaged at the ballot box by a rampant Donald Trump.

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Biden, 81, said Americans deserved a "peaceful and orderly" transition after 78-year-old Trump's huge victory.

He said: "For over 200 years, America has carried out the greatest experiment in self-government in the history of the world...where the people vote and choose their own leaders and they do it peacefully.

Nemesis

"And we're in a democracy. The will of the people always prevails."

Democrat Biden, who congratulated his Republican nemesis on Wednesday, added: "I know for some people it is a time for victory, to state the obvious. For others, it's a time of loss.

"Campaigns are contests of competing visions. The country chooses one or the other, we accept the choice the country made.