President Trump is grudgingly allowing the process to move forward while still refusing to concede that he lost the election.
The president-elect stood out front with his cabinet picks Tuesday in a physical representation of the concrete steps he can take now that the transition has formally begun.
Biden said, “It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it.”
Biden pointed to the nominees’ experience while answering criticism they could represent a return to the status quo. He said, “We cannot meet these challenges with old thinking.”
Biden named the first Latino to head the Department of Homeland Security and first woman as the Director of National Intelligence.
He also signaled a commitment to climate change, choosing former Secretary of State John Kerry for a new cabinet position. “Who can make sure climate change is on the agenda in the situation room,” Biden said.
The president-elect appealed to Republican senators who’ll choose whether to confirm his nominees by saying, “Let’s begin that work, to heal and unite.”
It comes as the Trump administration has cleared the way for the presidential transition to formally begin, allowing critical resources and information to flow to the president-elect even as he vows to keep fighting in the courts.
The president acknowledged none of that in brief remarks Tuesday, instead celebrating a new Wall Street record, fueled by promising vaccines and news of the orderly White House transition. “The stock market has just broken 30,000,” Trump said. “Never been broken, that number. That is a sacred number.”
The president made no mention of another sacred number, the more than 250,000 American lives lost to COVID-19 as the virus surges unchecked.
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