Not only Americans are exuberantly ready for Donald Trump to leave the White House now that the presidential race has been called for Joe Biden. According to firsthand accounts, locals in places including London, Paris, Berlin, Munich, and Edinburgh celebrated after news networks called the U.S. presidential race for Joe Biden. Some of the celebratory gestures included fireworks and the ringing of church bells, as if a new day had dawned for the United States of America and the world as a whole. World leaders from a slew of countries also spoke up, congratulating Biden and running mate Kamala Harris on their victory and new status as president-elect and vice president-elect of the United States.
Celebrations in the U.S. included gatherings in D.C. outside of the White House, where a huge crowd of joyous demonstrators made their celebratory mood known. Scroll down to check out comments from world leaders — and, check out images of celebratory fireworks in the U.K. below:
Even here in the UK my neighbours are setting of fireworks and shouting in celebration of Biden’s win pic.twitter.com/5GVv3HokHe
— sad potato 🥔 (@Eternal_Stress) November 7, 2020
Fireworks for #bidenharis2020 here in SW London. We’re celebrating with you, America. It’s a much longer for win for us, too. pic.twitter.com/2UiPW5Ftyq
— Nikki Baughan (@NikkiBaughan) November 7, 2020
It seems like some Guy Fawkes night fireworks were saved for the Biden&Harris victory 🎆🎆🎆
What a great day indeed 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 pic.twitter.com/pumaieojNz— Marc Robert de Massy (@MarcRdM) November 7, 2020
Below, check out footage of church bells ringing in Paris:
BELLS ringing across PARIS!! 💙
17h45 November 7, 2020
Biden/Harris
The world has been watching. pic.twitter.com/YdFcCEHeTC— Aliaèna (@aliaena) November 7, 2020
Check out other firsthand accounts of worldwide celebrations over the defeat of Donald Trump below:
A friend in Munich tells me the church bells just started ringing across the city. This is a win not just for America, but for the world.
— Andrew Trask (@avtrask) November 7, 2020
celebratory fireworks going off over here in Berlin! 🎇
— Andy Lutz (@ALutz7) November 7, 2020
CAN CONFIRM. Canada is THRILLED Joe Biden is the new President Elect. pic.twitter.com/22afLXMm09
— Keith Lam (晃太郎) (@baritonekeith) November 7, 2020
The world leaders who promptly spoke out to offer their congratulations to Biden and Harris included Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and others. Incredibly, even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joined in with congratulations for the Democratic ticket. Zelensky, of course, figured quite prominently in a harebrained Trump scheme that got the president impeached. Trump and his allies tried to bribe Ukraine into investigating the Bidens over baseless allegations of corruption — and the effort included a phone conversation between Trump and Zelensky in which Trump brought up the prospective investigation into the Bidens.
After offering his congratulations, Zelensky commented that “Ukraine is optimistic about the future of the strategic partnership with the United States.” He added that the two countries “have always collaborated on security, trade, investment, democracy, fight against corruption,” and he said that the countries’ “friendship becomes only stronger!”
Other notable leaders who spoke out included Merkel, of Germany, and Stoltenberg, of NATO. Merkel said that she wishes “luck” and “success” to Biden, and Stoltenberg said that he knows Biden as “a strong supporter of NATO and the transatlantic relationship.” The same can not be said of Donald Trump, who derided NATO throughout his time in office, ignorantly characterizing it as a drain on U.S. resources. Throughout his time as president, Donald openly sparred with a slew of world leaders, from Merkel to Canada’s Justin Trudeau to France’s Emmanuel Macron, although he got along swimmingly with folks like Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un — the latter of whom Trump once “jokingly” said that he “fell in love” with.
Chancellor #Merkel congratulates @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris. #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/A9Vwy1XYAR
— Steffen Seibert (@RegSprecher) November 7, 2020
Check out a summary of some congratulatory world leader statements following Biden’s election victory below: