‘God Save The Queen’

There is a lot to puzzle over when it comes to the US election.

How could Trump win so decisively when in pure numbers he lost by almost three million votes? Did Russian hacking really influence the result? Why does Trump have those weird pale circles around each eye that interrupt the orange?

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But people have taken a breather from these issues to ponder why Vice President Joe Biden was heard muttering ‘God Save The Queen’, in the moments after he certified the election results.

It was part of the necessary admin before President Elect Trump takes power on January 20, a joint-session of Congress where votes from the Electoral College votes were counted and the winner declared.


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Things had wound down, but when Biden’s mic was still on he said, very quietly, ‘God Save The Queen’.



Naturally, if this was in the UK you could dismiss it as a standard, patriotic remark, something an MP like Jacob Rees Mogg might say as a matter of course.

But America went its own way in 1776, doing away with the British monarchy…

So what did Biden mean?

But will no one explain what he meant? https://t.co/sNmRKWZRND — John Rentoul (@JohnRentoul) January 7, 2017

People have offered a rash of theories about what could be behind the sentiment.

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‘Translation: If this independence thing is going to yield leaders like Trump maybe we’d better go back to a monarchy,’ journalist Matthew Hoffman offered.

‘Alternatively: he wanted to say “God save the Republic” but it was too direct, so he settled for something more ambiguous.’

Muniba Kamal suggested: ‘He’s probably concerned about Queen Elizabeth’s health.’

(Don’t worry – she made a public appearance at Sandringham today, Joe!)

Another popular idea was that Biden was just humming the first line of the Sex Pistols’ second single.