Party waits in silence for Trump’s move

President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr prepared on Sunday to start building his administration, even as Republican leaders and scores of party lawmakers refrained from acknowledging his victory out of apparent deference to President Trump, who continued to refuse to concede.

With Biden out of the public eye as he received congratulations from leaders around the world, his team turned its attention to a transition that will swing into action on Monday, with the launch of a coronavirus task force.

But more than 24 hours after his election had been declared, the vast majority of Republicans declined to offer the customary statements of goodwill for the victor that have been standard after American presidential contests, as Trump defied the results and vowed to forge ahead with long-shot lawsuits to try to overturn them.

While some prominent Republican figures, including the party’s only living former President, George W. Bush, called Biden to wish him well, most elected officials stayed silent in the face of Trump’s baseless claims that the election was stolen from him.

Biden did not respond to Trump’s attacks on the result, but he also was not waiting for a concession. On Sunday, he unveiled his official transition website as he prepared a series of executive actions for his first day in the Oval Office — including rejoining the Paris climate accord, moving aggressively to confront the coronavirus pandemic and restoring labour organising rights for government workers — aimed at unwinding Trump’s domestic agenda and repairing the US’ image in the world.

But Republicans’ silence suggested that even in defeat, Trump maintained a powerful grip on his party and its elected leaders, who have spent four years embracing him or quietly working to avoid offending him or his loyal base. For many prominent Republicans, the President’s reluctance to accept the election results created a dilemma, making even the most cursory expression of support for Biden seem like a conspicuous break with Trump.

Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri was the most senior Republican to suggest that Trump had most likely lost and cast doubt on his allegations of a stolen election, but he stopped short of referring to Biden as the President-elect in an exceedingly careful television interview.

“It’s time for the President’s lawyers to present the facts, and it’s time for those facts to speak for themselves,” Blunt, the chairman of the rules committee, said on ABC’s This Week. “It seems unlikely that any changes could be big enough to make a difference, but this is a close election, and we need to acknowledge that.”