Joe Biden has reached 306 Electoral College votes and is now officially President-elect of the United States

This is usually a formality to which little attention in the United States, but in the tumultuous era of “Trumpism” it has assumed great symbolic value and enormous institutional relevance: the electoral college officially voted on Monday to Joe Biden as the country’s future president. The Democrat received a majority of the states’ electoral votes and finally sealed his victory on November 3, despite the legal offensive and pressure from Donald Trump to challenge the poll results.

With an unsurprising vote in the electoral college, Biden managed to exceed a majority of 270 of the 538 votes required to win, a ceremony in different states which formally endorsed the will of the Americans, after more than a month of a trial war launched by the president to try to overturn the elections he denounces as fraudulent.

Biden celebrated with a very harsh message for Trump and his entire offensive to delegitimize the election. “In America, politicians don’t take power, people give it to them. The flame of democracy was lit in this country a long time ago. And we know that nothing, not even a pandemic – or an abuse of power – can extinguish this flame. “

“In this battle for the soul of the United States, democracy has triumphed. The people voted. Faith in our institutions was sustained. The integrity of our choices remains intact. It’s time to turn the page. Unite, heal, ”he added.

The Trumpian court offensive – which has never presented serious evidence – has been vilified in local, state and federal courts, and even the Supreme Court, which on Friday refused to deal with a crucial lawsuit promoted by Texas and supported by over 120 Republican representatives.

Monday’s vote no more burying Trump’s aspirations to remove Biden as the next president.

When Americans voted in November, they actually voted for a list of voters nominated by political parties in their state who pledge to support that party’s candidate. In other words, the formally recognized result is that of the Electoral College votes, distributed proportionally by population among the 50 states of the country plus the District of Columbia.

In the election of Biden won a total of 306 delegates, while Trump got 232 out of a total of 538. The Democrat topped it, moreover, by about 7 million votes. This result is now also ratified by the Electoral College.

On Monday, voters in each state (usually party figures and state officials) voted as they previously announced. While the American Constitution considers the case of “unfaithful voters” in certain states, and there was strong pressure from Trump to have some Biden voters change their vote for president, none of that happened. Institutionalism prevailed, despite warnings of “severe punishment” by the president to voters, who also received personal threats from Trump supporters. In some places, like Michigan, voters voted in lockdown with security forces and with protests outside denouncing “vote theft.”

Given the Democrat’s advantage and the court’s rejection of the alleged fraud, there was no surprise that could reverse the result. Friday court ruling against Trump he also lowered expectations that large numbers of voters would turn to the Republican.

For several hours, voters who voted in local legislatures marched through each state. Well-known figures such as Bill and Hillary Clinton have been seen in New York City and Stacey Abrams in Georgia.

Once the count is complete in each state, the result is sent to the President of the Senate in Washington, a position held by Vice President Mike Pence, so that confirm the votes on January 6, a date that seems a long way off today but sounded consistent back when it was established, when votes were traveling by railcar from across the country.

Number 46

Subsequently, on January 20, Biden’s inauguration ceremony as president will take place. US Number 46, with Vice Kamala Harris.

Some Republicans may try to block the process in Congress, at least to resolve their position. At the forefront of the move, according to the New York Times, is Republican Congressman Mo Books of Alabama, who plans to discuss the results of Arizona, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Wisconsin. This Sunday, he tweeted: “Congress is the final arbiter in determining who wins the presidential election, not the Supreme Court ”. But that would only be a declarative maneuver because for any such action to be successful, it would have to have the approval of the majority of the House of Representatives, which is in the hands of the Democrats.

In an unprecedented case in the country’s history, Trump has yet to acknowledge defeat and promises to keep fighting, despite his guns getting thinner and thinner. “The United States runs the risk of having an illegitimate president. But the battle is not over yet, ”he said. “What happened to this country is as if we were from the third world”He said in an interview with Fox and insisted there had been fraud. When asked if he would attend Biden’s nomination as president, he said he didn’t want to talk about it.

With his strategy of not acknowledging defeat, Trump don’t try to take yourself for a loser (something he hates) and position himself for a possible presidential candidacy in 2024. In the meantime, he is raising hundreds of millions of dollars for the legal battle or his future plans.

Beyond the judicial rejections, the idea that there was fraud has spread to 70% of his supporters who are always excited and it suits Trump to keep his bases firm.

Despite the fact that Trump has won the support of a large part of the party in his denunciations, there are already several Republican voices within him who are urging Trump to turn the page and acknowledge his defeat. Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander said this weekend that the tycoon had no right “to go to court with misleading allegations and without evidence.” “The electoral process It will end on Monday if voters vote for Joe Biden, and I hope they do, ”Alexander said.

Many Trump lawmakers have said Biden’s triumph was only declared by the media (which reported the official results) and therefore did not acknowledge it. If the judicial offensive is lost and the electoral college elects Biden, they will have too many arguments do not condemn the “game over”.