For Americans, the Veterans Day ceremonies, the Veterans Day, organized Wednesday, November 11 in the United States, a traditional moment of unity, illustrated the extraordinary crisis that the country is going through.
As outgoing President Donald Trump laid a wreath in pouring rain at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Virginia National Cemetery, President-elect Joe Biden paid tribute to veterans in Philadelphia, some 150 km away .
The transition period until his inauguration, which should have started this weekend, has stalled.
More than a week after the US presidential election on November 3, and four days after the announcement of Democrat Joe Biden's victory, Republican Donald Trump stubbornly refuses to acknowledge his defeat, a "schizophrenic" situation unprecedented in history modern.
"We won", hammered the outgoing president on Wednesday again in one of his tweets, denouncing fraud and machinations in several states.
And he referred once again to this employee of the Pennsylvania Post Office, who nevertheless admitted to having lied when he had accused the electoral authorities of his state of fraud.
“Believe only the truth, its original version,” the president wrote on Twitter.
Richard Hopkins, Pennsylvania postal worker, recants ballot-tampering claim - Washington Times https://t.co/C7isLvQ9QU Stays with the truth, his original story.
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2020
Only two states have yet to announce their final results, North Carolina and Georgia.
In the latter state, where Biden leads only some 14,000 votes, the authorities decided to manually recount all the ballots ... But even if Trump were to win in Georgia, Biden would still be the winner.
Fears for American Democracy
The contrast to the previous transition in 2016 couldn't be more stark.
When the results had given Donald Trump the winner (even though he had largely lost the popular vote), Hillary Clinton quickly conceded defeat and President Barack Obama called the winner the very next morning to initiate the transition.
“What is Trump playing?
Thomas Edsall wondered Wednesday in an editorial in the New York Times which caused a stir.
"His refusal to concede that he lost the election takes us to very dangerous ground," he adds.
Sean Wilentz, professor of history at Princeton University, goes further: "If Trump denies the legitimacy of Biden's election, it is a renunciation of American democracy."
And several Democrats are worried about the dismissal of Defense Minister Mark Esper, who could be replaced by a personality "in the boot" of the president.
The support of the caciques of the Republican Party
The New York Times called election officials across the country to ask if they could report significant cases of fraud.
None were able to give any.
But a Politico and Morning Consult poll shows that 70% of Republican voters believe the election was neither fair nor honest.
And the president can count on the unwavering support of the caciques of the Republican Party who approve of his numerous legal appeals.
Apart from a handful of senators and personalities cut off from current political life, such as former President George W. Bush, no leader of the Grand Old Party has dared to stand out from the current president.
The reason is simple: No matter what, even if Trump does eventually leave the White House, his popularity with Republican supporters, and therefore his influence over the party, remains immense.
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Joe Biden, in his victory speech on Saturday evening, announced the priority of his mandate: the fight against Covid-19.
While the number of positive cases explodes (more than 10 million cases since the start of the pandemic) and that 17 states report a record number of hospitalizations, the response planned by the elected president cannot be organized before January 21 ... date of taking office, after his inauguration.
President Trump seems to be losing interest in the pandemic.
However, he accuses the Pfizer laboratory of having postponed the announcement of the promising results of the trials of his vaccine the day after the election to make him lose.
Once again, without proof.