Updated at 11:18 p.m. ET on November 6, 2020.
WILMINGTON, Del.—The difference between Biden headquarters tonight and Waiting for Godot is that Waiting for Godot had more action.
Everyone is waiting for the obvious to happen. We’re by the stage around the corner from the Wilmington Westin. Red, white, and blue Jeeps and trucks—props—are still parked here, remnants of the Tuesday-night victory celebration that never happened. A giant American flag is blowing in the wind. Exhausted reporters are drooping near power outlets, recharging their phones. All day, the press corps has been saying out loud what the math has now made certain but the networks refuse to confirm: Donald Trump has lost.
Superficially, at least, we’re waiting for the next president of the United States to give his victory speech. But Joe Biden is waiting to claim the presidency until the networks call the race. Biden and his aides would be particularly delighted if Fox News, the network most associated with Trump and his supporters, would validate Biden’s win—and begin the process of bringing the country together. The pressure on Fox is immense. So much so that rumors are swirling that only Fox can call the election—an idea that’s rankling the other networks. Fox, meanwhile, is trying to manage its relationship with its core audience, the one that has been complaining for days about being abandoned by its main news source. It also has to keep in mind its long-term business interests, and at least some people in the Fox universe are worried about holding on to at least a shred of the journalistic credibility it has ceded over the past four years.