• On Saturday, several news outlets called the 2020 election, declaring former Vice President Joe Biden the victor.
• Former Presidents Obama and Bush both sent their well wishes to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Other global leaders reached out as well, saying they were ready to work with the new administration.
• People also celebrated across the country, throwing dance parties in the street, honking horns, and popping champagne on sidewalks. 
• However, President Donald Trump has not conceded the election and is instead pushing false claims of voter fraud. He and his legal team are vowing to bring the matter to court but others in his circle are reportedly trying to figure out how to convince Trump that it really is over for him.

World Celebrates Biden’s Win

After it was announced Saturday that Joe Biden won the 2020 election and would become the 46th president of the United States, people all over the country and the globe celebrated the victory. 

Former President Barack Obama congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on the win. 

“In this election, under circumstances never experienced, Americans turned out in numbers never seen,” Obama said in a statement. “And once every vote is counted, President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris will have won a historic and decisive victory.”

Former President George W. Bush also extended his well wishes. 

“Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country,” Bush wrote. 

“The fact that so many of our fellow citizens participated in this election is a positive sign of the health of our democracy and a reminder to the world of its strength. No matter how you voted, your vote counted,” he added. 

Across the country, people also celebrated by dancing, cheering, and popping champagne bottles in city streets. In New York City and Washington D.C., crowds broke out into song during festivities. 

In Los Angeles, parades of honking cars took to the streets while people clapped and danced along the sidewalks. At one point, singer John Legend and model Chrissy Teigen were spotted in West Hollywood celebrating with the crowds. 

Miley Cyrus’s “Party in the USA,” as well as YG and Nipsey Hussle’s “Fuck Donald Trump” re-entered the charts as people found them to be apt songs to play during these gatherings.

However, Americans were not the only ones celebrating. In London, people set off fireworks. In Paris, people began ringing church bells. 

World leaders also sent their congratulations, as is often customary when a new U.S. President is elected. Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, said, “Welcome back America.”

Speeches From Biden and Harris

On Saturday night, Biden and Harris both spoke in Delaware to accept their win. Harris went first, embracing the electoral process and thanking the country in her remarks.

“Protecting our democracy takes struggle, it takes sacrifice, but there is joy in it and there is progress, because we, the people, have the power to build a better future,” Harris said. “When our very democracy was on the ballot in this election, with the very soul of America at stake, and the world watching, you ushered in a new day for America.” 

Harris, who is Black and Indian, will be the first woman and woman of color in the role. She touched on what this groundbreaking moment meant for her, her family, and women across the country.

“I am thinking about [my mother] and about the generations of women, Black women, Asian, white, Latina, Native American women who, throughout our nation’s history, have paved the way for this moment tonight. Women who fought and sacrificed so much for equality and liberty and justice for all,” she said. 

“But while I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last, because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.”

During his speech, Biden echoed the ideas he had been sending throughout his campaign, and especially in the last week as the results of the election were a pending uncertainty. He promised to bring the country together and to lead for every American, regardless of how they voted. 

“I pledge to be a president who seeks not to divide but unify, who doesn’t see red states and blue states, only sees the United States, and work with all my heart, with the confidence of the whole people, to win the confidence of all of you,” Biden said. “For that is what America, I believe, is about. It’s about people. And that’s what our administration will be all about.” 

“Now this campaign is over, what is the will of people? What is our mandate?” Biden later asked. “I believe it’s this: American have called upon us to marshal the forces of decency, the forces of fairness, to marshal the forces of science and the forces of hope in the great battles of our time, the battle to control the virus, the battle to build prosperity, the battle to secure your family’s healthcare, the battle to achieve racial justice and root out systemic racism in this country.” 

“Folks, I’m a proud Democrat, but I will govern as an American president. I’ll work as hard for those who didn’t vote for me as those who did. Let this grim era of demonization in America begin to end here and now.” 

Trump Refuses to Concede

But confetti was not flying everywhere. President Donald Trump has spent this weekend sending tweets riddled with misinformation, alleging unfounded claims of voter fraud, and refusing to concede the election.

It has long been expected that should Trump lose, he would not go down without a fight. In fact, just one hour before the election was officially called for Biden, Trump tweeted that he himself was the winner, a false claim he has been making since election day.

He later bragged about how many “legal” votes he got, implying the votes Biden got were illegal, but providing no evidence.

“The simple fact is this election is far from over,” Trump later said in a statement after the election for all intents and purposes, was over. 

“Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated,” he said. “The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots.”

While Trump can try to make a court game out of this, experts do not believe it will change anything. ABC News spoke to sources within Trump’s White House circle who believe the lawsuits are “pointless and meritless.” Alberto Gonzales, who served as the U.S. Attorney General under George W. Bush, told NPR that they will likely go nowhere. 

“I think most experts and certainly all that I have heard that are experts in the election field believe that that would be sort of a fruitless effort,” he said. “But obviously, he’s entitled to do what he thinks is right.”

During a Saturday press briefing at Four Seasons Total Landscaping in Pennsylvania (not the hotel) Trump’s legal team continued to spout unbacked claims of voter fraud. Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Guiliani, claimed that voting my mail is inherently fraudulent and that Trump is “not going to concede when at least 600,000 are in question.” Currently, ballots in several states remain uncounted, but their legitimacy is not in question.

Still, Trump thinks that these legal battles are the best course of action for him. According to Vanity Fair : “While Trump has apparently admitted to some people that he knows the electoral math has no chance of working out in his favor, he has ‘maintained that a prolonged court battle and corrosive rhetoric about election fraud would sow enough doubt to allow him to refuse to accept the results.”

Even so, those in his circle are allegedly trying to find a way to sit him down and tell him it’s over. 

“The delicate matter of a loss — and a potential post-presidential life — was not discussed widely among his team and was not raised often with the President, who believed adamantly he would win,” CNN reported. “Now, people around Trump are working to identify who might be able to communicate to him the stark reality.

See what others are saying: (CNN) (Vanity Fair) (NPR)