Days after upsetting results, Trump comes close to conceding defeat
Refusing to concede defeat for days now, US President Donald Trump came closest ever to accepting his fate on Friday, by blurting that "time will tell" if he remains at the helm of the most powerful nation or not. Trump was speaking at the Rose Garden about coronavirus vaccine development efforts, adding that his administration will never impose a lockdown. Here's what happened.
At the White House event, Trump delivered his first public remarks after November 3 elections but didn't acknowledge the results. He, however, hinted that his tenure could end in January 2021. Notably, Trump is one of the rarest US Presidents to lose a re-election bid. His challenger, Democrat Joe Biden, got 290 electoral votes, 20 more than the magic number of 270.
"This administration will not be doing a lockdown. Hopefully whatever happens in the future — who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell — but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown," Trump said.
While speaking to the press, Trump provided a rosy update on coronavirus vaccine. Taking the same tone he took throughout electioneering, Trump assured that a vaccine would "arrive within a few weeks" and that the high-risk individuals would get it first. Notably, since the outbreak in China last year, the US has lost 249,975 to the contagious disease. A staggering 11,064,364 have contracted COVID-19.
Reportedly, Trump credited Operation Warp Speed — a joint program between drugmakers, US Defense Department, and US Health and Human Services, for speeding up vaccine research and development — for the welcome news which Pfizer shared. "It's been an incredible effort. As a result of Operation Warp Speed, Pfizer announced on Monday that its China virus vaccine is more than 90% effective," Trump said.
"In July, my administration reached an agreement with Pfizer to provide $1.95 billion to support the manufacturing and distribution of 100 million doses... Our investment will allow citizens access to the vaccine made by Pfizer free of charge," Trump added.
Though Trump, who himself got infected, assured that the vaccine would be available soon, some roadblocks still persist. There's no guarantee that Pfizer would get authorization for emergency use by FDA. Moreover, there is no clarity about whether the vaccine will be effective in older adults. Further, Pfizer, reports claimed, doesn't have a stock ready that can be shipped immediately.
Earlier, Trump also floated a conspiracy theory that Pfizer deliberately delayed the announcement to hurt him politically. "As I have long said, @Pfizer and the others would only announce a Vaccine after the Election, because they didn't have the courage to do it before. Likewise, the @US_FDA should have announced it earlier, not for political purposes, but for saving lives! (sic)," he tweeted.
If Joe Biden were President, you wouldn’t have the Vaccine for another four years, nor would the @US_FDA have ever approved it so quickly. The bureaucracy would have destroyed millions of lives!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2020
As Trump is refusing to transfer power easily, President-elect Biden called his behavior "embarrassing." "Well, I just think it is an embarrassment, quite frankly, the only thing that, I think it will not help the President's legacy," he said recently. The 77-year-old said he understood the sense of loss Trump's voters are feeling, adding that a majority of them want to unite the country.
