WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Thursday urged the nation to accept the results of the presidential election, saying “the will of the people” was clear and vowing a peaceful transfer of power following former President Donald Trump’s decisive victory.

“We accept the choice that the country made. I’ve said many times, you can’t love your country only when you win,” he said in the White House’s Rose Garden.

“I will do my duty as president. I’ll fulfill my oath, and I will honor the Constitution,” he added as Trump was on pace to also win the popular vote after surging in blue states and among men minority voters, something he did not do in his 2016 defeat of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “On Jan. 20, we’ll have a peaceful transfer of power here in America.”

For four years, since Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election results and told an armed rally crowd on Jan. 6, 2021 to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” Biden and Democrats argued to voters that the former president was a threat to democracy. They regularly slammed him for saying the 2020 election was “rigged” and Democrats were trying to “cheat” this year. He attempted to put out that fire on Thursday.

“I hope we can lay to rest the question about the integrity of the American electoral system. It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent, and it can be trusted, win or lose,” Biden said, describing the now-concluded presidential contest as having been about “competing visions” and urging his countrymen and countrywomen to “see each other not as adversaries, but as fellow Americans.”

The outgoing commander in chief’s speech capped a wild four-month stretch that began when Trump on July 13 survived a assassin’s attempt at a Pennsylvania rally and Biden ended his reelection bid eight days later.

The address also started two countdown clocks: One to the end of Biden’s long political career and the other until the start of a second Trump presidency around noon Jan. 20. Trump early Wednesday morning was declared the winner of the presidential election by The Associated Press and other media outlets.

The president addressed the country one day after the Democratic presidential nominee that he endorsed shortly after stepping down on July 21, Vice President Kamala Harris, urged a crowd of supporters at Howard University in Washington, D.C., to watch Trump’s actions like a collective hawk once he takes power in January.

“I know many people feel like we’re entering a dark time,” Harris said. “But for the benefit of us all, I hope that’s not the case.

“We will never give up the fight for our democracy, the rule of law, the rule of justice and the sacred idea that everyone of us, no matter who we are or where we start out, have certain fundamental rights and freedoms that must be upheld,” she told supporters.

Biden described Harris as his “partner,” saying she has “a backbone like a ramrod” and “true character.”

Bill Galston, a former Clinton White House aide now with the Brookings Institution, said Trump was victorious because his “theory of the case was broadly correct.”

“He and his campaign managers believed that it was possible to build on Republicans’ growing strength among white working-class voters to create a multi-ethnic working-class coalition,” he wrote in an analysis posted Wednesday. “He was right: If the exit polls turn out to be accurate, he made strides among Latinos and African Americans, especially men. He increased his share of the Black male vote from 12 percent to 20 percent and carried Hispanic men by 9 points, 54 percent to 45 percent.”

‘Stands on business’

To that end, a young Black man who drove a Roll Call reporter to the airport in Milwaukee on July 19, the day after Trump accepted the GOP nomination at the party’s national convention there, announced he was a supporter of the 45th president. “Trump stands on business. The Democrats don’t really do that,” said the ride share driver, who asked to remain anonymous.

Galston noted that team Trump “also believed that they could improve their performance among young adults, and they did — from 35 percent in 2020 to 42 percent this year,” adding: “Anecdotal evidence suggests that most of this gain reflected a shift toward Trump among young men. Trump spent lots of time on podcasts, such as Joe Rogan’s, whose principal audiences are this otherwise hard-to-reach group.”

Trump also presented voters a set of easy-to-digest policies, even if he never explained how they would work nor why he expected a better working relationship with lawmakers this time around. His campaign promises were typically delivered in simple lines.

“Drill, baby, drill.”

“No tax on tips.”

“We’re going to make America wealthy again, and we’re going to make America affordable — we have to get the prices down.”

“We’re going to charge you large-scale tariffs on everything you send into the United States.”

Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist, said during a phone interview late last week that “Trump got on his game after the debate,” referring to the former president’s uneven performance in his lone verbal sparring session with Harris on Sept. 10. “He basically decided, ‘I’m the best marketer in the business and I have the stronger brand.’ He sold the brand.”

Not every Republican, however, reported high expectations for the second Trump term.

“I’m enjoying this tonight,” another GOP operative wrote in a text message as Trump addressed the country around 3 a.m. ET Wednesday, about two hours before AP declared his victory. “But it’s going to be a miserable f***ing four years.”

Biden acknowledged such worries, especially among Democrats and his own White House staff.

“You know, the struggle for the soul of America since our very founding has always been an ongoing debate,” he said. “I know for some people, it’s a time for victory, to state the obvious. For others, it’s a time of loss. … The country chooses one or the other.

“Together, we’ve changed America for the better. Now we have 74 days to finish the term, our term. Let’s make every day count,” he told his team. That’s the responsibility we have to the American people. … Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable. … We all get knocked down, but the measure of our character, as my dad would say, is how quickly we get back up.”

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