At the beginning of last month, after many were anxiously poking at an electoral map on their phones for four days, America declared a winner on the Saturday morning of November 7th.

The Associated Press called the 2020 U.S. presidential election for former Vice President Joe Biden and his running mate, Senator Kamala Harris. The Democratic ticket surpassed the minimum margin of 270 electoral votes for victory after winning the state of Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes. The former vice president defeated incumbent President Donald Trump who had only reached 214 electoral votes at the time. Biden and Harris are now president-elect and vice president-elect, respectively.

First of all, this win is historic on so many levels! The election itself took place during a global pandemic. Yet despite that, according to a story by Andrea Park for Marie Claire magazine, this election had the highest voter turnout since the year 1900. One hundred twenty years ago! 

In an article for CBS News by Sophie Lewis, it was reported that Joe Biden also received a historical, record-setting amount of votes cast for a candidate in a U.S presidential election—over 79 million!

In addition to Biden’s success, Kamala Harris is also breaking barriers as the first woman, first Black woman, and first South Asian woman to become the vice president of the United States of America. This is the most epic thing! She has become a role model and inspiration for many women, especially women of color. Her achievement symbolizes progress for this nation as a whole, and it will continue when the American people soon see her take her place in the second highest office in the land. 

Although there was much rejoicing in the streets on the day the election was called, the incumbent and his loyal followers refused to accept the results. President Trump and his team wasted no time in making baseless claims about the election being fraudulent and rigged. 

Constantly since, President Trump has been trying to force the false idea of widespread voter fraud. And his family and supporters continue to tag along! (This is frustrating, but not at all surprising.)  

One article from ABC News detailed the findings of their team’s visual verification experts, and they debunked several false and misleading videos that suggested voter fraud in the 2020 election. All of those videos ended up either taken down from social media or marked as misleading.

Still, that is not all Trump has done in the wake of his loss. According to a MSNBC story by Steve Benen, Trump and his team created a donation fund where most of the money doesn’t even go to the cause they claimed. Benen cited a Reuters report that found that a donor would have to donate more than $8,000 to the so-called “Official Election Defense Fund” before actually contributing to Trump’s lawsuits and recount challenges. Where do the funds go first? His “Save America” political action committee and the Republican National Committee. In other words, the results don’t change but his funds grow.

However, just one search on the web can bring up a bunch of articles about the fact of their failure. They hopped on the lawsuit train with empty luggage and so far, their cases have either been dropped or lost. 

Additionally, the Trump election challenges disrupted the presidential transition. It took 16 days after Biden became president-elect for Trump-appointed Emily Murphy, Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA),  to allow the Biden transition team to gain access to the rest of the funds and resources needed to begin a formal transition. 

From riling up supporters with falsehoods to lawsuits and delaying the start of a formal presidential transition, Donald Trump utterly disrespected the electoral process. He further divided America and acted irresponsibly as Commander in Chief. 

But things are still moving along, even though Trump and his team continue to pursue ridiculous attempts at stopping a Biden presidency. On December 14, according to an article from BBC News, electors of the electoral college met to formally cast their votes. As expected, they confirmed a Biden victory. The electoral college votes now await being sent to Congress on January 6 to be counted for an official and final formality.

Although the Trump team has yet to give up their fight, in the same BBC News article, analysts were said to have stated that “there is next to no chance that Mr. Biden’s victory could be overturned.”

So when Inauguration Day comes, on January 20, 2021, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will become the 46th president and 49th vice president of the United States of America. 

On the night of her and Biden’s victory, the vice president-elect had said, “The road ahead will not be easy, but America is ready. And so are Joe and I.” 

Her sentiments could not have been more fitting to the state of our nation. These are trying times and there will be more, but the country will be in capable hands. Having their leadership will be a monumental first step in striving for a better and united America. Hope is on the horizon.