Washington  -  US President Joe Biden on Thursday said the American people deserve a “peaceful and orderly” transition following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory this week.  “For over 200 years, America has carried out the greatest experiment in self-government in the history of the world,” Biden said from the Rose Garden. “That’s not hyperbole. That’s a fact. Where the people, the people vote and choose their own leaders, and they do it peacefully. And we’re in a democracy. The will of the people always prevails.”

Biden added: “Yesterday, I spoke with President-elect Trump to congratulate him on his victory, and I assured him that I’d direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition. That’s what the American people deserve.”  Biden also sought to assuage the defeat his base is feeling following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory this week. “Setbacks are unavoidable, but giving up is unforgivable,” the president said in his first public remarks since Trump’s win was declared.  

“We all get knocked down, but the measure of our character, as my dad would say, is how quickly we get back up,” he said.

“Remember,” Biden said, “a defeat does not mean we are defeated. We lost this battle. The America of your dreams is calling for you to get back up.”

“The American spirit endures,” Biden said.

President Joe Biden emphasized the “integrity of the American electoral system” in a speech following the election loss of his 2020 running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It is honest, it is fair, and it is transparent — and it can be trusted, win or lose,” Biden said.

President-elect Donald Trump had repeatedly questioned the US electoral system in the aftermath of his election loss in 2020, spreading false claims about voter fraud and launching a series of legal challenges in swing states.

In his speech, Biden thanked election workers who “took risks” and “busted their necks” to do “their duty as citizens.” “We can restore the respect for all our election workers who busted their necks, took risks at the outset. We should thank them, thank them for staffing voting sites, counting the votes, protecting the very integrity of the election,” Biden said.

“Many of them are volunteers who do it simply out of love for their country, and as they did, as they did their duty as citizens, I will do my duty as president,” Biden said, signaling that he would fulfill his oath to relinquish power and welcome a new administration.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told US troops on Wednesday that the Pentagon “will make a calm, orderly, and professional transition to the incoming Trump administration.”

In a message to the force dated November 6, Austin wrote that “as it always has, the U.S. military will stand ready to carry out the policy choices of its next Commander in Chief, and to obey all lawful orders from its civilian chain of command.”

Austin’s memo was sent as the US military grapples with the election of Donald Trump, who has suggested he would be open to using active duty troops for domestic law enforcement and mass deportations.

Trump’s election has raised questions inside the Defense Department about what would happen if he issued an unlawful order or invoked the Insurrection Act to deploy active duty US troops domestically.

Austin wrote that the US military will “stand apart” from politics and continue to support and defend the Constitution.

“You are not just any military,” Austin wrote. “You are the United States military–the finest fighting force on Earth–and you will continue to defend our country, our Constitution, and the rights of all of our citizens.”