▶ Watch Video: Biden delivers first remarks since election, calls Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump a setback.
Washington — President Biden referred to Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat by Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election as a “setback” Thursday morning, in his first speech to the nation following the election.
“Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable,” President Biden said. “A defeat does not mean we are defeated.”
He urged Americans to embrace unity, and said he accepted the results of the election.
“We accept the choice the country made,” he said. “I’ve said many times, you can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t love your neighbor only when you agree,” and he called for unity after the bitterly partisan election.
“Something I hope we can do no matter who you voted for is see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans,” he said. “Bring down the temperature.”
He said he’d direct his administration to work with the president-elect’s team for a “peaceful and orderly transition” of power.
“For over 200 years, America has carried on the greatest experiment in self-government in the history of the world,” the president said in an address in the White House Rose Garden, continuing, “where the people, the people vote and choose their own leaders and they do it peacefully.
