After more than a week of throwing a temper tantrum filled with baseless claims of widespread voter fraud and refusing to concede his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, President Trump finally threw in the towel in a Sunday morning tweet — well, sort of.
In typical Trumpian fashion, the sitting POTUS fumed that Biden won only because the election was supposedly “rigged” — an unfounded claim adding to the saga of his recent baseless allegations that Democrats are conspiring to “STEAL” the election.
He won because the Election was Rigged. NO VOTE WATCHERS OR OBSERVERS allowed, vote tabulated by a Radical Left privately owned company, Dominion, with a bad reputation & bum equipment that couldn’t even qualify for Texas (which I won by a lot!), the Fake & Silent Media, & more! https://t.co/Exb3C1mAPg
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020
All of the mechanical “glitches” that took place on Election Night were really THEM getting caught trying to steal votes. They succeeded plenty, however, without getting caught. Mail-in elections are a sick joke!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020
Trump appeared to catch onto his “Biden won” tweet making news as he tweeted later Sunday morning that he apparently has not conceded the election, while predictably waging the usual unfounded “rigged” election claims.
He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2020
Trump has yet to call Biden to concede the election even as some Republicans have begun coming out of the woodwork to outright acknowledge that the former VP is now the President-elect and gently suggest that Trump finally concede. The President has largely been in hunkered down in the White House in the past week as he waged a series of unfounded election fraud claims via tweets, which Twitter has slapped warnings of misinformation onto.
On Friday, Trump appeared to briefly allude to the incoming Biden administration in his first public remarks since losing the election.
“This administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the — the, whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell, but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown,” Trump said.
Trump’s legal moves to dispute the election results have fallen flat even as those in his orbit, such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have been in denial and insisted that the department would “transition to a second Trump administration.”
Trump’s refusal to concede has held up Biden’s transition efforts. Trump-appointee General Services Administration chief Emily Murphy, who has the sole authority on whether Biden’s transition can officially move forward, has yet to sign off on an “ascertainment” that the President-elect won. The “ascertainment” acknowledging that Biden has won the presidency would allow his transition team to contact federal agencies or access the millions of dollars set aside for it.
