US President Joe Biden was set to address the nation on Thursday after a stinging election defeat for his Democratic Party at the hands of Republican Donald Trump, whose stunning political comeback has reverberated around the world.
Biden, who was replaced in July as the Democrats’ candidate in the race by Vice President Kamala Harris because of concerns about his mental acuity after a stumbling debate with Trump, will speak at 11:00 am (1600 GMT), the White House said.
Harris sought on Wednesday to console the voters who had hoped she would become the first woman to win the White House.
She, like Biden, has promised to aid Trump’s transition between now and his inauguration on Jan. 20 but said she was not prepared to embrace his vision for the country.
Trump’s campaign said Biden had invited him to a meeting at the White House at an unspecified time.
Former President Trump’s victory, surprisingly decisive after opinion polls that had shown a neck-and-neck contest ahead of Tuesday’s election, underscored how disenchanted Americans had become with the economy – in particular the effect of inflation on their standard of living – border security and the direction of the country and its culture.
