JOE BIDEN was on the cusp of winning the US presidency tonight as he opened up narrow leads over President Donald Trump in the critical battlegrounds of Georgia and Pennsylvania. 

If he clinches Pennsylvania, as he looked set to as the Morning Star went to press, he will exceed the 270 electoral college votes required to win the presidency — though officials in Georgia said a recount in that state was inevitable given how tight the race was, and from Washington Mr Trump continued to make unsubstantiated allegations of widespread fraud and vow to challenge the official results.

His insistence that “they” — Democrats and electoral authorities — “are trying to steal an election, trying to rig an election” has already resulted in Trump supporters besieging counting centres. In Philadelphia police arrested two men on Thursday who were caught near a counting centre with illegal firearms.

Mr Biden called on “everyone to stay calm. The process is working. It is the will of the voters. No-one, not anyone else chooses the president of the United States.” Mr Trump soon tweeted that “the US Supreme Court should decide.”

Though the Trump campaign is already challenging the result in various states, it is unclear whether the number of votes concerned would be enough to overturn a Biden victory. It wants a recount in Wisconsin and filed lawsuits in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia. Judges in the latter two states have already dismissed the lawsuits.

Republicans divided over whether to support the president’s incendiary claims, with fear for the consequences for the US political system running up against Mr Trump’s overwhelming popularity with the party’s grassroots supporters.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan said: “There is no defence for the president's comments tonight undermining our dcemocratic process. America is counting the votes, and we must respect the results as we always have before.”

But Senator Josh Hawley Montana declared: “If [the] last 24 hours have made anything clear, it's that we need new election integrity laws NOW.”

Mr Trump’s fraud claims have been backed by far-right Texas senator Ted Cruz and, in Britain, by Nigel Farage.