On November 22, 2016, two weeks after Donald Trump was elected president, then-Vice President Joe Biden came upon dozens of supporters who had gathered outside of the VP’s official residence on Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest. What Biden told these men and women—who’d recently witnessed the most unexpected election loss in modern American history—seems especially relevant today, as Trump and his allies continue their effort to overturn Biden’s election victory on the basis of baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud.
“We’ve got to give this other administration a chance too, okay?” Biden said in an exchange captured on video by Washingtonian photographer Evy Mages. “So, this is the way democracy works. And we—there’s been a transition.”
After promising to have ice cream with his supporters, Biden continued, “I’m not going anywhere. I’m no longer going to be vice president, but I’m going to stay involved. I’m going to stay involved in the things I’ve always been involved in. So thank you very much.”
Here are more pictures of that day four years ago.
