There are exceptions. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel exulted in Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to a Jewish settlement on the West Bank — a powerful American endorsement of an Israeli occupation that runs counter to international law and counter to American policy before Mr. Trump. Mr. Netanyahu knows that the American embrace of those settlements will soon change, but he is doing what he can to use the visit to cement facts on the ground and make it harder for Mr. Biden to openly reverse course.
Closer to home, corporate America has also rapidly come to the conclusion that it should adjust its focus.
On Nov. 7, the day most major news organizations called the race, several major companies and trade groups recognized Mr. Biden’s victory.
Scott Kirby, the chief executive of United Airlines, reached out to the Biden campaign that evening and offered to work with the new administration to combat the pandemic and kick-start the economy. “While there will always be differences in any country as large and diverse as the United States, I continue to believe that there is far more that unites us than divides us,” Mr. Kirby said in a letter to Mr. Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
In the days after the election, Goldman Sachs began preparing its clients for an expected Biden administration. A client call on Nov. 5, held to discuss Mr. Biden’s likely win, drew thousands.
David M. Solomon, the firm’s chief executive, has not yet spoken with the president-elect, a Goldman spokesman said, but senior officials at the firm, including the regulatory affairs head, Kathryn Ruemmler, and the communications head, Jake Siewert, both of whom worked in the Obama administration, have been in contact with members of Mr. Biden’s transition team.
Since then, Michael Gonda, a McDonald’s spokesman, has reaffirmed in a statement the company’s belief that Mr. Biden has won the election, saying, “We have been in touch with the transition team to let them know we would like to be helpful on a number of fronts, including on Covid response by sharing our safety and hygiene protocols.”
