Democratic candidate Joe Biden is all but assured of becoming the 46th President of the USA after Tuesday’s vote.

Donald Trump is trying to block the completion of the count, falsely declaring his own “victory” and saying he will “go to the Supreme Court”. His supporters have gathered outside election centers from Arizona to Michigan to Nevada, hoping to halt the process in the final states to declare outcomes.

Completed counts and projections give Biden 264 electoral votes to Trump’s 214. If he prevails in Nevada, where the count will be completed on Thursday, the former Vice President will reach the 270 needed for victory.

The candidate is ahead by almost 8,000 votes with 86% of the count completed. The remaining votes are early and mail-in ballots from Las Vegas’s Clark County, an area which favors the Democrats.

Biden is gaining ground in Georgia (16 electoral votes), and now trails by less than 29,000 votes with 95% of ballots counted. The remaining ballots are from the Democrat-leaning Atlanta area.

In Pennsylvania (20), Trump piled up a large initial lead from in-person voting. However, the gap has closed from more than 600,000 with 76% of the count finished, to less than 165,000 with 89% done. As early and mail-in ballots are tabulated, the remaining tally will continue to favor Biden.

Trump is expected to hold onto his lead in North Carolina (15), with a margin of more than 66,000 at 95% of the count.

EA in the Media: From US Election to Constitutional Crisis
Clockwatch: The US Elections

“Duty of Care for All Americans”

Trailing in polls, Trump raised the possibility of an upset with victories in Florida and Ohio and the lead in North Carolina.

But Biden restored his advantage with a projected win in Arizona, which had not voted for a Democratic President since 1996. He then overtook Trump in Wisconsin and Michigan, as early and mail-in votes were tallied.

On Thursday afternoon, after Trump had tried to cut off the vote with his speech claiming victory in all the swing states, Biden said:

My fellow Americans, yesterday once again proved democracy is the heartbeat of this nation….

I‘m not here to declare that we won, but I am here to report that when the count is finished, we will be the winner.

He assured that he would uphold the Presidential “duty of care for all Americans”: “I will work as hard for those who didn’t vote for me as I will for those who did vote for me.”

And he implicitly pushed back Trump’s threat: “Every vote must be counted….We, the people will not be silenced.”

Trump and Supporters Threaten The Vote

Just after midnight on Wednesday, Trump announced. his long-stated intention to cut off the count, with the falsehood of fraudulent mail-in ballot.

Biden had tried to pre-empt the move with his own statement, “It’s not my place of Donald Trump’s to decide who has won this election. That’s up to the American people.”

But Trump tweeted, in a message flagged and hidden by Twitter, “We are up BIG, but they are trying to STEAL the Election. We will never let them do it. Votes cannot be cast after the Poles [sic] are closed!”

He then addressed an audience at the White House with his proclamation of triumph, projecting his own tactic onto the Democrats: “They didn’t win, so they’ll take us to court.”

Vice President Mike Pence, called to the podium to support Trump, did not endorse the path all the way to the Supreme Court, “As the votes continue to be counted, we’re going to continue to be vigilant.”

Some Republican leaders pushed back. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said, “We count the votes. We believe in the rule of law.” Rep. Adam Kinzinger tweeted, “Stop. Full stop. The votes will be counted and you will either win or lose. And America will accept that.”

However, supporters took matters into their own hands on Wednesday night. In Phoenix’s Maricopa County, home to 60% of Arizonans, they tried to prevent a complete count that would formally confirm Biden’s victory. Trump “poll watchers” inside the election center protested, while those outside tried to enter the building. Journalists were threatened, and security personnel were finally mobilized as officials drew up an “exit plan” if armed protesters broke into the count.

The crowd also vented its anger against Fox, which had dared to project Biden as the winner as he established a 6.5% lead with only 14% of votes remaining to be counted.

Pushing Conspiracy Theories and Legal Action

In a rambling press conference, Trump’s son Eric, daughter-in-law Lara, lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski tried to tear down the impending outcome.

Giuliani, who has spent 18 months working with pro-Russian Ukrainians to spread disinformation on Biden — an effort that led to Trump’s impeachment — asserted, “This is among the most anti-democratic things I’ve ever seen or encountered.”

He continued, “Joe Biden could have voted 5,000 times.”

Meanwhile, some Fox pundits defied their own network by pushing unfounded conspiracy theories. Maria Bartiromo spread the line from the attack site The Federalist, “Yes, Democrats Are Trying To Steal The Election In Michigan, Wisconsin, And Pennsylvania”.

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz — a Presidential candidate in 2016 but now a diehard Trump backer — promoted the effort: “If true, this is HIGHLY disturbing. Elections should be decided by actual voters, not unscrupulous political operatives after the fact.”

Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien said a recount will be pursued in Wisconsin, which Biden won by about 20,000 votes.

He said the campaign had filed suit in the Michigan Court of Claims, with the unsupported assertion that Trump workers had not been given “meaningful access” to several counting locations.

Later in the evening, the campaign said it was filing suit in Georgia for counties to separate late-arriving ballots from the rest, foreshadowing action to challenge mail-in votes.