VOA常速英语:拜登和特朗普足不出户默默庆祝感恩节

This is VOA news. Reporting by remote, I'm David Byrd.

President-elect Joe Biden and sitting President Donald Trump, like millions of Americans, stayed close to home to celebrate Thanksgiving quietly on Thursday as the coronavirus pandemic raged across the United States. Appearing with his wife in a video message posted to his Twitter account, Biden said his family typically holds a large gathering on Nantucket island, but would remain in Delaware this year "with just a small group around our dinner table" because of the pandemic.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, renewed baseless claims that "massive fraud" and crooked officials in battleground states led to his election defeat and said he'll go to Georgia to rally supporters ahead of two Senate runoff elections. Speaking to reporters at the White House after speaking with U.S. military leaders overseas, Trump angrily denounced officials in Georgia and Pennsylvania, two key swing states that helped give Biden the win, as "enemies of the state" and claimed that they were culprits in vote fraud.

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday but not like in years past. We get more from AP's Ben Thomas. This is what it sounded like in past years. This year, there were the big balloons in the sky, familiar faces like Snoopy, Ronald McDonald, and SpongeBob SquarePants, and marching bands on the street. But the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade had the genuine look and feel of a 2020 event. Coronavirus restrictions in New York meant it was without the throngs of people usually scrambling for a view or even the balloon handlers who normally hold the ropes. The balloons were attached to vehicles this year. And instead of the usual two-and-a-half-mile route through Manhattan, it was all contained to the one block stretch of 34th Street in front of Macy's flagship store.

I'm Ben Thomas. This is VOA news.