President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr on Monday sharpened his criticism of President Trump’s refusal to cooperate in an orderly transition, warning that “more people may die” from the coronavirus if the President does not agree to coordinate planning for the mass distribution of a vaccine when it becomes available.
It was a marked shift in tone for the President-elect, intended to pressure Trump after Biden and his team had played down the difficulty of setting up a new government without the departing administration’s help. The new criticism came as the White House national security adviser all but conceded that Biden would be inaugurated and acknowledged the importance of a smooth federal handoff.
“The vaccine is important. But it’s of no use until you’re vaccinated,” Biden said, pledging to work with Republicans to defeat the virus and spur an economic revival when he takes office. But he said the logistics of distributing vaccines to hundreds of millions of Americans were a vast challenge. “It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking,” he said.
“If we have to wait until January 20 to start that planning, it puts us behind,” Biden said. “More people may die if we don’t coordinate.”
Over the weekend, the President again refused to acknowledge Biden’s victory and on Monday morning tweeted, “I won the Election!” Without a concession from Trump, the official transition remains frozen — and could stay that way for months.
Biden made his comments at a news conference after he and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris had discussed reviving the economy at a virtual meeting with business and labour leaders, including Mary Barra, the chief executive of General Motors, and Satya Nadella, the head of Microsoft, as well as the AFL-CIO president, Richard Trumka, and the United Auto Workers president, Rory Gamble.
“We all agreed that we want to get the economy back on track and get our workers back in the job by getting the virus under control,” Biden said. “We are going into a very dark winter. Things are going to get much tougher before they get easier. And that requires sparing no effort to fight Covid.”
Biden reaffirmed his support for a $3.4 trillion stimulus bill that House Democrats passed this year that Senate Republicans have rejected, though he offered no hint of a compromise that could break Congress’s months-long deadlock.
But to do that, he said, will require new cooperation from Republicans, even those who have so far refused to publicly acknowledge Biden’s victory. Asked what he would say to members of the President’s party who have backed Trump’s refusal to concede, Biden said he would offer them an open hand.
“My message is: ‘I will work with you. I understand a lot of your reluctance because of the way the President operates,’” Biden said, adding that such conversations may not take place until Trump and his advisers have left office. “That’s a shame, but maybe that’s the only way to get it done.”
Biden praised the Republican governors of North Dakota, Ohio and Utah, who have each taken steps to lock down their states in response to the virus — and drawn attacks from Trump in the process.
On Monday morning, the President hinted in a tweet that he might support a primary challenge to one of them — governor Mike DeWine of Ohio. “Who will be running for Governor of the Great State of Ohio? Will be hotly contested!” Trump wrote.
Biden said during his remarks that he had “enormous respect” for the Republican governors, including DeWine, who have bucked a President of their own party to insist that people wear masks.
“It’s about being patriotic. It’s about saving lives for real. This is not hyperbole,” Biden said, adding, “There is nothing macho about not wearing a mask.”
New York Times News Service
