The president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden, addressed the nation this Wednesday, on the eve of Thanksgiving, in a message in which he asked families for responsibility so that, in the great celebration in which they meet traditionally in the homes of several generations of Americans, there is no spike in covid infections.
It has been an important moment.
Not so much for the content of the message, but for the symbolism.
With the transition of power already underway, it was Joe Biden's first truly presidential speech.
The president-elect has spoken directly to the camera.
He has done it from Wilmington (Delaware).
"We are again facing a long and harsh winter," warned Biden, who has highlighted the almost 260,000 deaths that the pandemic has already claimed in the United States.
“It has divided us, pitted each other.
But we must remember that we are at war against the virus, not against each other.
We are in this together, and we still have months of this battle ahead of us. "
Battered repeatedly by misfortune in his family, Biden has had a special memory for those who have lost some of their loved ones during the pandemic.
“I remember my first Thanksgiving with an empty chair,” she said, referring to her son's death in 2015. “It's hard to give thanks, look ahead.
I will pray for you.
I understand you, because we have been there ”.
He has assured that his family has the custom of traveling and meeting on Thanksgiving, but that this year they will celebrate it "separated into small groups."
"I know how difficult it is," he explained, "but it is very important, because our country is in the midst of a dramatic rebound in cases."
There were 2,216 deaths in the United States on Tuesday, the highest daily number since May.
The number of confirmed in the country has already exceeded 12.5 million, and the number of deaths is close to 260,000.
For the first time since the health crisis began in spring, more than a million cases have been registered in the country for two consecutive weeks.
For all these reasons, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have asked families to contain the celebrations, and that family gatherings be reduced to a minimum or carried out electronically.
The president-elect has defended the same thing, appealing to what he has called "a patriotic duty as Americans."
"What we are asking for are not political statements," he said, "it is based on science, on real science."
He has promised that his Administration will take steps "from day 1" to "change the course of this disease."
"The federal government has many powers, and I will use them," he assured.
“But the federal government cannot do this alone.
Each of us has a responsibility in their private lives ”.
Biden wanted to end with a message of optimism and celebrated the good news about vaccines.
This crisis, he said, "will not last forever."
“It has been a tough year, but I think we have a lot to be thankful for.
There is much to build on, much to dream about ”, he concluded.
“I am optimistic about the future.
The 21st century will be an American century. "
With his speech, the president-elect has sought to fill the leadership vacuum that President Donald Trump is leaving in the response to the pandemic, who in the last two weeks seems to be ignoring the disturbing escalation of the health crisis.
Unfounded accusations of voter fraud monopolize the Twitter activity of the Republican president (“Rigged election!” He tweeted yesterday), who has barely appeared in public since the election.
On Tuesday he appeared, unusually brief and unanswered, to celebrate the recent good news about vaccines and the gains on Wall Street.
He also ignored the crisis in the traditional ritual of the turkey pardon in the White House.
This same Wednesday, the president was scheduled to travel to Pennsylvania to meet with Republican state legislators to discuss allegations of alleged irregularities in the election, but abruptly canceled the trip.
Last Monday, the Trump Administration informed Biden's team that it was ready to begin the transition of power, blocked by the outgoing president.
Trump still does not admit defeat in the elections on November 3, which he lost by a resounding margin.
Despite the blockade, Biden proceeded with the design of the team that will lead the country as of January 20.
After announcing the six names who will be in charge of national security and foreign policy, more positions are expected to complete his cabinet in the coming days, including those of the people who will lead the Pentagon and the Attorney General's Office.
It is also expected that next week, after Thanksgiving, the president-elect will announce who will be in charge of the Secretary of Health.
Plans to pardon Flynn
President Trump has told his advisers, according to the Axios news website, that he plans to use his last weeks in the White House to pardon his former Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Flynn.
Granting pardons in the closing stages of their terms is a common practice among American presidents.
Former Lieutenant General Flynn served as Trump's first and short-lived National Security Advisor for 24 days, before resigning at the president's behest for misleading about his communications with Russian diplomats during the previous transition of power in the White House.
He twice pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about such contacts.
Last May, Flynn changed his legal strategy and wanted to withdraw his guilty pleas on the grounds that the FBI set him up.
The Justice Department tried to drop the charges against him, but the federal judge handling the case resisted, and they have yet to rule on the motion.
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