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Kamala Harris conceded to Donald Trump. The vice president’s concession speech, delivered yesterday afternoon at Howard University in Washington, DC, hit both grateful and somber notes. She expressed optimism for the future, saying, “The light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”
The Democratic nominee obliquely referenced the challenges she faced, reminding listeners that she had just 107 days to make her case to the American people and that she succeeded in at least one area where President-elect Trump failed: As she conceded, she said, “A fundamental principle of American democracy is that when we lose an election, we accept the results. That principle, as much as any other, distinguishes democracy from monarchy and tyranny, and anyone who seeks the public trust must honor it.”
World leaders reacted to the election. Messages of support for President-elect Donald Trump streamed in from around the globe on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer were among the first to congratulate Trump on winning a second term in the White House, with the former saying the victory was “history’s greatest comeback.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin was not planning to call Trump and congratulate him, saying, “We are talking about an unfriendly country that is both directly and indirectly involved in the war against our state.” However, the Russian news outlet Verstka said that Putin congratulated the president-elect through “mutual friends.”
President Biden also congratulated Trump and invited him to a meeting at the White House.
Business leaders shared their feelings. Elon Musk, David Sacks, Marc Andreessen, Bill Ackman, and many of the president-elect’s other paladins were predictably effervescent yesterday as they celebrated his win on X. Jeff Bezos sent a glowing show of support, posting, “Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory.”
Bezos has only tweeted twice since 2023, both times to praise Trump. Some of the president-elect’s opponents also sent messages of support: Mark Cuban congratulated Trump, saying, “You won fair and square.” Andrew Yang, a tech entrepreneur who ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, said, “Defending democracy means accepting election results that don’t go your way.
Congrats to Donald Trump—I hope that he brings people and the country together.”—HVL