NEW YORK/: Joe Biden's projected win of the US presidency and the Republican Party potentially retaining control of the US Senate could drive a pickup in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) that took a hit amid the COVID-19 pandemic, dealmakers said.
Bankers and lawyers who advise companies on M&A said the outcome, if confirmed, was the best possible for providing the stable economic and regulatory environment that dealmaking needs.
They expect that Biden, the Democratic Party candidate, would be more predictable in governing than Republican President Donald Trump, and that a Republican-controlled US Senate would restrain Biden's most interventionist policies.
"This dynamic can be quite conducive to doing deals, because it provides stability," said Peter Orszag, who served in the White House under President Barack Obama and now heads the financial advisory arm of investment bank Lazard.
"The only caveat is that there is less chance of another big round of stimulus, which would help the macroeconomic outlook, than if Democrats had taken the Senate," Orszag added.
All major US TV networks projected Biden would win the presidency on Saturday (Nov 7), though Trump vowed to continue to challenge the outcome in the courts.
Two runoff US Senate races in Georgia, which will decide which party will control the upper chamber of Congress, will take place on Jan 5, with Republicans favoured to retain control based on this week's tally.
Republicans holding a slim majority in the Senate could block large swathes of Biden's legislative and spending agenda, as well as key appointments for his Cabinet and government agencies.
"Corporate leaders and markets like stability. Gridlock, in its own way, can be seen as a stabiliser, as we saw during the Obama administration," said Cary Kochman, co-head of global M&A at Citigroup.
While M&A activity jumped in the third quarter as executives rushed to revisit deals put on hold at the height of the coronavirus outbreak, deal volume globally is down 12 per cent year-to-date to US$2.84 trillion, according to data provider Refinitiv. Deal volume involving US companies being acquired is down 32 per cent year-to-date to US$1.07 trillion.
Dealmakers said certainty over financial and regulatory policy will be crucial in the coming months to keep M&A going, as a new wave of coronavirus infections spreads across the United States and most of the world.
"I would venture to say some M&A has been held up under the Trump administration, because Trump could sometimes be unpredictable with his Twitter account," said Bill Curtin, global head of M&A at Hogan Lovells.
Had Democrats taken control of Congress, dealmakers said the most disruptive aspects of Biden's agenda would have been tax hikes. Biden has proposed raising the capital gains tax rate from 20 per cent to 39.6 per cent for those making more than US$1 million. This would have made it more expensive for corporate owners to cash out on their holdings.
"Deals won't be so much tax-driven, as Biden is not expected to immediately be able to carry out huge reforms in the US corporate tax or healthcare systems," said Patrick Sarch, a partner at law firm White & Case.
BARRIERS TO CHINESE ACQUISITIONS TO STAY
Scrutiny of Chinese takeovers of US companies, which intensified under Trump, is expected to continue, dealmakers said. In the last four years, the United States blocked many Chinese acquisitions, especially of US technology firms, on national security grounds, and even ordered some Chinese firms, such as the owners of social media apps TikTok and Grindr, to divest them.
Deep US suspicion of China's economic power, technological advances and accounting standards will likely result in many of the hurdles to cross-border investments remaining in place under Biden, dealmakers said.
"The nationalistic focus and the high degree of scrutiny on sensitive deals that has emerged in recent years will not disappear anytime soon," said Nestor Paz-Galindo, global co-head of M&A at UBS Group AG.
One corporate sector that could be a major beneficiary of the election outcome is the oil and gas industry, dealmakers said. Low energy prices have fuelled a wave of consolidation in the oil patch in recent weeks, and this could continue unhindered as Republicans curtail Biden's clean energy agenda.
"You are going to see some pop in valuations in the energy sector. The market will feel that a Republican Senate will hold back Biden from regulating the US energy sector as much as he might have," said Vito Sperduto, global M&A co-head at Royal Bank of Canada.
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - After the declaration on Saturday (Nov 7) that Democrat Joe Biden had won the race for the White House, Republican President Donald Trump and his allies made one thing clear: He does not plan to concede any time soon.
The President, who has spent months trying to undermine the election results with unproven allegations of fraud, pledged on Saturday to go forward with a legal strategy that he hopes will overturn state results that gave Mr Biden the win in Tuesday's vote.
Trump aides and Republican allies, while somewhat conflicted on how to proceed, largely supported his strategy or remained silent.
"The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor," Mr Trump said in a statement released by his campaign around mid-day.
The President's allies and advisers privately admitted that the former New York businessman's chances of overturning the election results and staying in the White House were slim.
While preparing for an eventual concession, they called for time to let the legal challenges run their course.
"He should allow the recounts to go forward, file whatever claims there are, and then if nothing changes, he should concede," said one Trump adviser.
The Trump campaign and Republicans have brought numerous lawsuits over alleged election irregularities. Judges tossed cases in Georgia, Michigan and Nevada.
In Pennsylvania, judges sided with Republicans and ordered some provisional ballots set aside and granted Republican observers greater access to vote counting.
Legal experts said the legal challenges were too narrow in scope to have an impact on the outcome of the election.
Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to raise at least US$60 million (S$81 million) to fund legal challenges, sources told Reuters.
"He should make sure every vote is counted and demand transparency. That puts him on solid rhetorical grounds," said another former White House official.
Mr Trump was at his golf property in Virginia when the race was called for Mr Biden.
Clusters of Biden supporters lined two blocks of his motorcade's route back on Saturday afternoon. Mr Trump re-entered the White House wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, looking glum with a mobile phone in his hand.
Mr Trump re-entered the White House wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, looking glum with a mobile phone in his hand. PHOTO: REUTERS
Mr Biden supporters gathered and celebrated loudly near the White House.
Republicans worried that Mr Trump could tarnish his legacy if he does not eventually make a graceful exit, eroding his future political power.
"It will be impossible for him to run again in 2024 if he's seen as a sore loser," a congressional Republican source said.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham, a staunch Trump defender, on Friday urged the President, if and when the time came, to accept an unfavourable outcome with "grace and composure".
The Wall Street Journal's conservative editorial board wrote that Mr Trump "needs evidence to prove voter fraud".
"If Mr Biden has 270 Electoral College votes at the end of the counting and litigation, President Trump will have a decision to make. We hope in that event he would concede gracefully," it said.
Mr Biden crossed that crucial threshold on Saturday by winning the battleground state of Pennsylvania.
One Trump adviser said White House chief of staff Mark Meadows would likely be the aide who would raise with Mr Trump the idea of conceding. Mr Meadows came down with the coronavirus this week and is under quarantine.
Another former adviser said Vice-President Mike Pence or senior adviser and Mr Trump's son-in-law, Mr Jared Kushner, would have the job of telling the President when it was time to concede.
Indeed, CNN reported late on Saturday that Mr Kushner had approached Mr Trump about conceding. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"President Trump is entitled to take the time he wants to absorb this. It was close and it's not productive to demand an immediate concession," said Mr Ari Fleischer, who was a White House press secretary in the George W. Bush administration.
"The best thing to keep this country together is to give the President a reasonable period of time to accept the results."
THULASENDRAPURAM, India: After rooting for Kamala Harris as President-elect Joe Biden's running mate, people in her small ancestral Indian village woke up on Sunday (Nov 8) morning to the news of her making history.
"Congratulations Kamala Harris. Pride of our village. Vanakkam (Greetings) America," one female resident wrote in colour powder outside her residence.
"We all have been waiting for this day. Congratulations," Aulmozhi Sudhakar, a village councillor, said.
The village of Thulasendrapuram, population 350, planned to celebrate Harris' success with singing, dancing and firecrackers at a temple later on Sunday.
Already in the morning hours, groups gathered at street corners reading newspapers and chatting about the Democrats' victory before moving to the temple for prayers.
Cutouts and posters wishing Harris a "grand success" adorned the village walls.
"Kamala Harris is the daughter of our village. From children to senior citizens, each one of us is awaiting the day she would take oath as the vice president of the US," said Sudhakar.
J Sudhakar, who organised prayers on Election Day, expressed his wish that Harris should now visit the village. As Americans voted, nearly 50 residents, with folded hands, lined up in the temple that reverberated with the sounds of ringing bells, and a Hindu priest gave them sweets and flowers as a religious offering.
Indian women prepare a kolam congratulating US vice president-elect Kamala Harris in the hometown of Harris' maternal grandfather, in Thulasendrapuram, south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, India, Nov 8, 2020. (Photo: AP/Aijaz Rahi)
Women in the village, located 350km from the southern coastal city of Chennai, used bright colours to write "We Wish Kamala Harris Wins" on the ground, alongside a thumbs-up sign.
The lush green village is the hometown of Harris' maternal grandfather, who migrated to the US decades ago.
Inside the temple where people have been holding special prayers, Harris' name is sculpted into a stone that lists public donations made to the temple in 2014, along with that of her grandfather who gave money decades ago.
Policemen take part in a special prayer performed for the success of then US democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris, at a temple in Thulasendrapuram village, south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu state, India, Nov 3, 2020. (Photo: AP/Aijaz Rahi)
Harris' late mother also was born in India, before moving to the US at the age of 19 to study at the University of California. She married a Jamaican, and they named their daughter Kamala, Sanskrit for "lotus flower".
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet described Harris' success as path-breaking, and a matter of immense pride not just for her relatives but also for all Indian-Americans. "I am confident that the vibrant India-US ties will get even stronger with your support and leadership."
There has been both excitement – and some concern – over Biden's choice of Harris as his running mate.
Modi had invested in President Donald Trump, who visited India in February. Modi's many Hindu nationalist supporters also were upset with Harris when she expressed concern about the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, whose statehood India's government revoked in August last year.
Harris stood by Pramila Jayapal, another US congresswoman of Indian origin, when India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar refused to attend a meeting in the United States over her participation last year. Jayapal had earlier moved a resolution on the Kashmir issue critical of India in the House of Representatives.
Rights groups accuse India of human rights violations in Indian-controlled Kashmir, where insurgent groups have been fighting for independence or merger with neighbouring Pakistan since 1989.
WILMINGTON, Delaware: Joe Biden declared victory on Saturday (Nov 7) as the 46th president of the United States after voters narrowly rebuffed Republican incumbent Donald Trump's tumultuous leadership in favour of the former Democratic vice president.
"The people of this nation have spoken. They've delivered us a clear victory, a convincing victory," Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware after he was declared the winner by all major US TV networks after four days of nail-biting suspense following Tuesday's election.
"I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide, but to unify," he said, then addressed Trump's supporters directly.
Acknowledging the disappointment of Trump supporters, Biden said of them: "They are not our enemies. They are Americans."
"Let this era of demonisation in America begin to end here," Biden said.
"I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, and to make America respected around the world again," Biden said.
"Now, let's give each other a chance. It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again," he said. "This is the time to heal in America."
He said his first act as president-elect would be to name scientific advisers and experts to lead the coronavirus response.
"On Monday I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers to help take the Biden-Harris plan and convert it into an actual blueprint that will start on Jan 20, 2021," he told supporters.
Democratic 2020 US presidential nominee Joe Biden speaks during his election rally, after news media announced that he has won the 2020 US presidential election, in Wilmington, Delaware, US, Nov 7, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
Barack Obama's vice president paid particular tribute to the African-American community, pointing to its role in selecting him as the Democratic nominee to challenge Trump.
Biden was introduced by his running mate, US Senator Kamala Harris, who will be the first woman, the first black American and the first American of Asian descent to serve as vice president, the country's number two office.
"What a testament it is to Joe's character that he had the audacity to break one of the most substantial barriers that exists in our country, and select a woman as his vice president," Harris said.
Harris said voters had brought a "new day for America" as she opened the victory speech on Saturday.
Harris took the stage in Wilmington, Delaware in a white suit in honour of the women's suffragist movement to the sounds of Mary J Blige.
"When our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, with the very soul of America at stake and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America," Harris said to cheers from the socially distanced outdoor crowd.
Congratulations poured in from abroad, including from conservative British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, making it hard for Trump to push his repeated claims, without evidence, that the election was rigged against him.
Trump, who was golfing when the major television networks projected his rival had won, immediately accused Biden of "rushing to falsely pose as the winner".
"This election is far from over," he said in a statement.
Trump has filed a raft of lawsuits to challenge the results but elections officials in states across the country say there has been no evidence of significant fraud, and legal experts say Trump's efforts are unlikely to succeed.
LONDON: Joe Biden has promised to put an end to Donald Trump’s isolationist, disruptive approach to global relations.
But a Biden administration bid to restore American leadership will require time and political capital at a time when the superpower’s global role stands in doubt at home and abroad.
While diplomats are not likely to hear the phrase “America First” for a while, Mr Biden will face challenges including countering China, re-entering the nuclear deal with Iran, resetting relations with Europe and dealing with the fallout of Brexit on the relationship with the UK.
One Biden adviser described the president-elect’s foreign policy priorities as “China. China. China. Russia”.
Team Biden will inherit a US foreign policy establishment that views Beijing with far more concern than it did during the Obama era. However it remains unclear what combination of cooperation, competition and confrontation Mr Biden will use to engage with the US’ rising power rival.
While he will probably refuse to endorse a new Cold War that could put America’s leading global role under threat, he will seek to push back on conventions governing technology and investment. He will also maintain a robust US military presence on China’s doorstep.
Hopes for a trade war breakthrough when Donald Trump and Xi Jinping meet this week have helped fuel a rally on global markets AFP/Nicolas ASFOURI
Mr Biden will seek to strengthen co-ordination with partners on investment screening, intelligence sharing and emerging technologies in a bid “to get on the same page with our allies regarding China,” a Biden official said.
He will also try to strengthen regional partnerships with allies given short shrift under the Trump administration, such as South Korea.
Some experts think China will breathe a sigh of relief with Mr Biden at the helm. Many are hoping for less aggressive public rhetoric than during the Trump years, but officials expect little let-up in private pressure by the US.
Some Democrats say Mr Biden underestimates the threat posed by China’s military, economic and diplomatic ambitions. Many officials in other countries insist they don’t see themselves as equidistant between Washington and Beijing — but they are also eager to preserve economic relationships with China and the potential for partnerships in other areas such as climate change.
EUROPE: THE MOST ALTANTICIST US PRESIDENT IN A GENERATION
Keen to rebuild the European alliances that Mr Trump has repeatedly snubbed, Mr Biden is likely to be the most Atlanticist US president in a generation.
He prides himself on his Irish heritage and will move away from Mr Trump’s overt hostility to the EU. Mr Biden will also be a strong backer of the NATO military alliance.
France's President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, who have both butted heads with US President Donald Trump, watch him walk past as they pose for a photo at a NATO summit in Watford, England in December 2019 AFP/CHRISTIAN HARTMANN
The president-elect is opposed to Brexit, though has accepted it as a fait accompli. However he will find it easier to work with the UK if it can avoid a no-deal divorce from Europe that respects Irish border agreements.
Mr Biden has also promised to harden the US line on Russia and “impose real costs” on the country for violations of international norms.
His support for a strong NATO is explicitly aimed at countering Russian aggression, and he has vowed to stand with Russian civil society against what he calls president Vladimir Putin’s “kleptocratic authoritarian system”.
However he will have to quickly open negotiations with Moscow to extend the New START nuclear arms reduction treaty before it expires on Feb 5, 2021.
While many European officials accepted that Trump was a blunt messenger for structural change — including more defence spending from NATO allies and a withdrawal of US troops from Germany, they still see the US military might that underpins NATO as essential to Europe’s security.
They would also like Washington to engage more in dealing with regional crises from Belarus to the Eastern Mediterranean.
Europe can expect 18 months of happy hand-holding events that put the postwar alliance system back at the heart of US relations with the rest of the world, starting with efforts to lead a global response to coronavirus.
US President Donald Trump's manner with Russian leader Vladimir Putin was in contrast to the anger he flashed at NATO allies last week AFP/Brendan Smialowski
MIDDLE EAST: REJOINING THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL AND RESETTING RELATIONS WITH SAUDI ARABIA
The US president-elect has promised to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal Mr Trump withdrew from, if Tehran comes back into compliance with the multilateral accord designed to curb its atomic ambitions. He has also vowed to reset relations with Saudi Arabia which he has called a “pariah” state.
But like Donald Trump, Mr Biden wants to end America’s forever wars and plans a shift in US loyalties in the Middle East.
The Democrat will not move the US embassy from Jerusalem, where Mr Trump relocated it from Tel Aviv in 2018. He has no plans to push for a two-state solution. Mr Biden’s top advisers have also made clear his foreign policy priorities lie elsewhere.
But the crunch could come over China, Brexit and trade.
However, Iran wants compensation for its treatment at the hands of the Trump administration and all sanctions lifted as the price for its return to the nuclear deal. At present, it is still developing its missile programme.
Saudi Arabia meanwhile is concerned a Biden administration could halt arms sales and impose a renewed chill on relations.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during family photo session with other leaders and attendees at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
The UAE would like to see the US take a harder line against Turkey, and, if Mr Biden agrees to re-enter the Iran deal, to ensure Iran’s missile programme and support for militias in the region are also addressed. It also wants a seat at the negotiating table with regional powers on any Iran discussions.
There is likely to be a timing crunch because of Iran’s presidential elections in June, which could hand power to hardliners who would be more difficult to negotiate with.
A new Biden administration will have to work fast to agree a new approach to Iran with the accord’s European signatories — the UK, France and Germany.
GLOBAL TRADE: LOWER TENSIONS, WITH MAJOR ISSUES TO BE RESOLVED
Mr Biden has some of the same protectionist tendencies as Mr Trump. He proposes making federal agencies procure only US services and goods, and has floated a tax to penalise US companies for moving jobs and manufacturing overseas.
Like Mr Trump, he has argued that the World Trade Organization needs to be reformed and better able to deal with non-market economies like China.
However, although Mr Biden has signalled he will continue to be tough on China on the trade front, he is unlikely to replicate the confrontational tariff regime fostered by Mr Trump. But the extent to which he will remove or lower tariffs — or apply further tariffs — is unclear.
In line with his broader foreign policy, Mr Biden wants to lower trade tensions with regions including Europe. But this means resolving some major disagreements, including the decades-long row over airline subsidies and the debate over how to fairly tax big tech companies.
The immediate hope for foreign democracies will be that a Biden administration will join with the consensus of other member states in backing Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the new director-general of the World Trade Organization. The current administration is blocking the appointment of a new leader.
Europe and the UK are also seeking progress in talks about aircraft subsidies and the end of related US tariffs on European goods including cheese, wine and olives.
The US has proposed tariffs on a range of European products, including cheeses, over EU subsidies for commercial aircraft. (Photo: AFP/Koen van Weel)
Those same countries will also aim to sort their disagreement with Washington over digital taxation, and will work to have tariffs on European steel and aluminium lifted.
The UK, which is leaving the EU single market in January, will try to close a trade deal with the US once Biden takes office, but the Biden campaign has said this will not be at the top of the new president’s priorities.
Substantial issues remain with Europe. Trade tensions with Beijing, too, are likely to continue. Experts expect trade wars to continue — but ones that will be waged in back rooms and not over Twitter.
CLIMATE POLICY: GREATER PRESSURE EVEN IF US REJOINS PARIS AGREEMENT
Mr Biden has pledged to rejoin the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which the US withdrew from on Wednesday.
He plans to integrate climate change targets across every aspect of US foreign policy, national security and trade. He has set a target of net-zero emissions by 2050 for the US and has vowed to entirely rely on and even export clean energy.
He has also said he would lead a global effort to ensure every significant carbon-emitting country raises its own ambitions for domestic climate targets, with transparent, enforceable goals — with China particularly in mind.
Countries need the US to come back into the international coalition to fight climate change. The UK, which is hosting COP26 in November 2021, hopes to use the UN climate summit to reduce tension over Brexit between Mr Biden and prime minister Boris Johnson.
China and Japan both recently laid out hefty new targets for themselves to go carbon neutral by 2060 and, in Tokyo’s case, by 2050.
That puts the pressure on Mr Biden to improve America’s goals and to find a bright spot in US-China relations even as Mr Biden will seek to reclaim the leadership mantle in global climate diplomacy.
STERLING, United States: US president Donald Trump, who has refused to concede defeat in a bitterly-contested election called in Democrat Joe Biden's favour, has remained defiant hours after US networks announced Biden's win.
"I won the election ... bad things happened," he erupted in a lengthy all-caps tweet after returning to the White house on Saturday (Nov 7) afternoon after a session of golf, the first time he had left the White House since Election Day.
The claim was once again flagged by Twitter for containing disputed information.
In a statement issued earlier from the golf course, he also claimed that Biden and the media - which Trump has spent his presidency casting as an "enemy of the people" - were inventing the results.
"We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don't want the truth to be exposed," Trump said.
"The simple fact is this election is far from over."
The president left the White House on Saturday morning as the last crucial vote counts were about to come in from Pennsylvania and a few other battleground states.
Already trailing Democrat Joe Biden in the all-important, state-by-state Electoral College vote tally - the handwriting on the wall was becoming impossible to ignore.
So Trump, who is known for regularly hitting the links, headed across the Potomac River to the Trump National Golf Course in Sterling, Virginia.
Trump was there when the major US television networks - first CNN then NBC, CBS, ABC and finally Fox - declared that new results from Pennsylvania had pushed Biden over the top - and into the White House, come January.
He seemed determined to project a sense of serene unflappability when he finished his round in the afternoon.
President Donald Trump returns to the White House after a round of golf in Sterling, Virginia on November 7, 2020 -- the day US TV networks declared him the loser in the presidential elections AFP/ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
Seeing a wedding couple posing for photos outside the clubhouse, the president offered to join them, videos posted on social media show.
Wearing dark gray slacks, a gray jacket and a white "Make America Great Again" basehall hat, he engaged in what seemed to be lighthearted banter.
As he stepped away, several people shouted after him: "We love you! We love you!"
Afterward, as thousands of exultant Biden supporters celebrated raucously in front of the White House and elsewhere in the US capital, the Trump motorcade made its way back to the White House.
The president had nothing else on his schedule for Saturday.
WASHINGTON (BLOOMBERG) - President Donald Trump’s aides described a leadership vacuum in the White House on Saturday (Nov 7) after he lost re-election and internal finger-pointing began, even as his associates wondered how he would grapple with defeat.
The race was called while Trump was at his golf course in northern Virginia. Many of his exhausted aides had headed home for the weekend, to rest and to escape the latest coronavirus outbreak sweeping the West Wing.
There was no all-hands staff meeting or memo on how officials should react. It was a marked contrast from the scene four years ago, when, after Trump won election, President Barack Obama gathered his own despondent staff in the Oval Office for a pep talk.
The void has left staffers unsure what’s next. Trump’s advisers are split on how far to take various legal fights, delaying consideration of strategy both politically and in the courts. And the campaign has offered little additional clarity to surrogates, even as they gird them to contest an election that appears beyond the president’s reach.
Hands Out
Most of the people interviewed for this story asked not to be identified discussing internal conversations.
Dan Eberhart, a donor who gave the president at least US$100,000 (S$130,000) towards his re-election effort, said the mood among Republicans is one of “despair.“
The Trump campaign held a call with donors on Saturday morning and asked for contributions to fund the president’s post-election legal fights. Eberhart said that he couldn’t immediately remember a time when fund-raising, in particular, was the subject of a surrogate call.
“The message was just, they will keep fighting,“ Eberhart said.
One close outside adviser to the president said Trump had erred by not simplifying his legal argument: request recounts, as well as review and adjudication of any irregularities or allegations of criminal behaviour. That would have put the onus on Democrats to defend any opposition to recounts and ballot-count observers, the adviser said.
Instead, the president’s effort to contest the election outcome is haphazard and appears unlikely to change the final results.
No Concrete Examples
Minutes after networks called the race for Biden, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani appeared outside a Philadelphia landscaping company, nestled between a crematorium and an adult film store, to declare that the president wouldn’t concede. He and a Trump adviser, Corey Lewandowksi, insisted the Pennsylvania election had been riddled with irregularities, if not outright fraud, but provided no concrete examples.
Rudy Giuliani speaks in Philadelphia after the media said Biden had won the US election. PHOTO: AFP
In Nevada earlier in the week, two Trump allies – former acting Director of National Intelligence Ric Grenell and American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp – refused during an impromptu news conference to tell local reporters their names, much less field questions about their claims of voter fraud in the state.
And in Wisconsin, the state has requested US$3 million from Trump’s campaign to pay for a recount – a sizable financial commitment for an organisation that’s using some of the donations to its legal effort to pay off unspecified debts.
Another person close to the president predicted that the blame game will soon begin in earnest.
Pointing at Meadows
Some finger-pointing will undoubtedly be reserved for Trump’s fourth chief of staff, Mark Meadows. He regularly downplayed dire warnings from members of the president’s coronavirus task force, instead encouraging the president to push the nation to reopen – despite polls showing deep voter concern over the pandemic.
Meadows was absent from the West Wing on Saturday, having been diagnosed himself this week with coronavirus. At least four other White House aides and one campaign staffer also tested positive in the second major White House-linked outbreak in less than a month.
The infections sent a new ripple of anxiety through Trump’s world, with public videos emerging of Meadows, maskless, interacting with nearly every major campaign and White House official in the days before his diagnosis.
Among those potentially exposed was presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who’s fruitlessly attempted to salvage a campaign he largely dictated – particularly after the president demoted campaign manager Brad Parscale and replaced him with former White House political aide Bill Stepien in July.
‘Like a Gladiator’
People around the president believe Trump will concede defeat in some form, at some point.
THE OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED INTO THE COUNTING ROOMS. I WON THE ELECTION, GOT 71,000,000 LEGAL VOTES. BAD THINGS HAPPENED WHICH OUR OBSERVERS WERE NOT ALLOWED TO SEE. NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE. MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WERE SENT TO PEOPLE WHO NEVER ASKED FOR THEM!
Mick Mulvaney, the president’s former acting chief of staff, said he expected Trump to “fight like a gladiator until the election is conclusively determined,” but to ultimately respect the results.
“The US needs to know that the winner is actually the winner,” Mulvaney wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. “And once Americans know that, I have every expectation that Mr. Trump will be, act and speak like a great president should – win or lose.”
Others said that what the president most desires to avoid is the perception of failure. In a national address Thursday night, Trump touted his party’s Senate victories and gains in the House, his success adding non-white voters to his column since 2016, and the record-setting number of female Republican candidates elected to office on Tuesday – an effort to burnish his political standing even in defeat.
And at least one ally predicted Trump might declare that he will run again in 2024 even before his term concludes in January.
“Let Biden have it,” the person said. “We’ll take it back in four years.”
