Weak kneed Republicans worry over appearances that Trump is holding on too long
One week from today is Christmas Day. The quadrennial presidential election was held last month on November third. Counts, recounts and audits have taken place ever since. Lawsuits have been filed and heard in state and federal courts. Expert testimony and examinations have occurred in state legislatures. Names have been named -- and called. The United States Supreme Court has addressed the matter and concluded that the Justices would stay out of it. The Electoral College met in all fifty states this week and its members voted as the Constitution requires. Yet the election is still not over. While Democrat Joe Biden would appear to be the president elect according to the normal course of things, the fight to find the truth continues. And it should continue. Biden won the Electoral College vote and is now officially in line to take the oath of office in a little over a month, but popular support for his ascension is entirely lacking. The people who pay close attention to the evidence aren’t satisfied that a resolution has been reached. And that’s bad. Not entirely unexpectedly, some Republicans are getting antsy about how President Donald Trump’s holdout looks to the rest of the political world. W. James Antle III wrote at The Washington Examiner, “Monday’s Electoral College vote for Joe Biden has not ended the Republican Party’s dilemma over how to deal with President Trump’s election challenges, as he continues to assert an honest vote tally would show he won a second term. “Even as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell led congressional Republicans toward an acceptance of Biden as the next president following the constitutionally decisive electoral vote, the White House and a large number of rank-and-file GOP voters are continuing to dispute the outcome… “Many Republicans publicly said the process should be allowed to play out, with some actively supporting the election challenges, while others waited patiently for Trump to exhaust his legal options, as Al Gore did during the 2000 Florida recount. But the Electoral College has now voted for Biden for president, and the Supreme Court has declined to hear any lawsuits that would overturn the results in the several states Trump is still contesting. Neither were sufficient to get Trump to back down.” Nor should they be. Baseball legend Yogi Berra famously said (among other things) “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over,” and in this sense, he was right. No matter what Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, the discredited losers in the #NeverTrump camp and the entirety of the Democrat Party say, this matter will not be concluded until one man says it’s so. Donald Trump is the one to call the troops home, compliment them for waging the good fight and either move into retirement in New York or down in Florida at his Mar a Lago club -- or begin a new venture. Maybe his “retirement” will include another run for president four years’ hence. Or there could be a damning revelation about this year’s vote that calls everything into question. Only God knows the future, and he’s not inscribing hints across the sky, that’s for sure. Trump isn’t harming anyone by refusing to utter the “c” (concede) word. As far as we know, he and Biden haven’t spoken and no “congratulations” expressed. It no doubt worries Grampa Joe a lot more than anyone else, since his boy is under federal investigation and it’s nervous time for Democrats waiting to see whether a Special Counsel will be assigned to get to the bottom of Hunter Biden’s sleazy dealings.
Many, many of Trump’s supporters aren’t ready to call it a day. They need a signal from the commander. Historically speaking, causes don’t just peter out, particularly those as salient as the current controversy.
In wartime, the ending isn’t always clear either, especially in the absence of absolute defeat or a final declaration. In the Civil War, for example, history teachers lecture that southern secession and military resistance ended on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House in central Virginia. There, Robert E. Lee officially surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Union army commander Ulysses S. Grant. Pockets of southern soldiers wanted to rally into smaller units and keep fighting in the hard-to-get portions of the south.
Lee wouldn’t have any of it. After considering a plan to break up and continue a guerrilla warfare type conflict, the great southern general saw no future in it. The healing process would begin with the South admitting defeat. Still, other southerners, such as General Nathan Bedford Forrest, continued with armed opposition for a time, but capitulated a month after Lee. The war concluded in North Carolina with Confederate General Joseph Johnston surrendering at Bennet Place. Still others say the final battle of the war took place at Palmito Ranch in Texas.
World War II officially ended on the deck of the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay Harbor when Japanese Emperor Hiro Hito signed surrender documents. But elements of his army never stopped fighting. In Japanese culture, it was dishonorable to surrender. The final two holdouts were discovered and relented in 1974 -- yes, twenty-nine years after the war ended.
Of course, our current dilemma is not a military conflict and President Trump isn’t a southern soldier -- or Japanese -- but there is some reason for keeping up the resistance to “surrender” here. It’s more than just being stubborn and it’s not an affront to societal order or the Constitution. Trump is doing what he considers the right thing.
Contrary to frantic liberal predictions, Trump never said he won’t leave the executive mansion if he loses. The president hasn’t indicated what he’ll do if the status quo doesn’t change in his favor between now and January 20, but the sure bet is he won’t cause a constitutional crisis by forcing Biden to take power by force. The fact some Democrats are even still mentioning such a scenario is insulting. But they don’t have anything better to do.
Trump has no incentive to concede now, and it might be harmful to the country if he did
There are plenty of reasons why Trump should continue to dispute the official end. Number one, he’s setting a precedent here. American history is filled with presidential elections where one side wasn’t willing to play nice with the other upon relinquishing power. The Election of 1800 was the first where a member of the opposite party (Thomas Jefferson) took over for an outgoing president (John Adams) of the other party. Adams made it as difficult as possible for the incoming folks to take control, burning all of his official correspondence, issuing “midnight appointments” galore and skipping Jefferson’s inauguration.
There’s nothing in the Constitution or tradition that says Trump must concede and walk away in a gentlemanly manner. Trump is no Adams and Lord knows, Biden is no Thomas Jefferson. If Trump is seen as giving in too easily, it would reflect badly on the system and encourage others to wantonly cheat to win the White House at any cost. Simply accepting the results and capitulating because Biden wants him to isn’t motivating Trump to do it. The New Yorker feels a sense of duty to his voters to get to the bottom of the fraud. Good for him.
Two, any premature concession could endanger Trump’s presidential authority for the final month of his (first) presidency. The president initiated the effort to develop a vaccine to combat the Chinese Communist Party (CCP, or Wuhan, if you prefer) virus, and he clearly believes he’s the best one to make sure it’s distributed and administered properly and fairly. Who knows, if the Biden people take over, they could very well reward their donors and constituents before those who need it most. Don’t trust ‘em? Who in their right mind ever would?
Three, the Georgia U.S. senate runoffs are only a few weeks away. Trump has every reason to keep conservative and Republican voters paying attention to the process. As more information comes out concerning the incompetence and outright malfeasance of the Peach State’s governor and secretary of state, every minute must be spent making sure the procedure is proper this time. It would be tragic for history to repeat itself on January 5.
If Trump called off his search for the truth now, the Georgia grassroots might see it as a sign to ease-up on the drive to elect Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue. Opting for Democrats in Georgia and therefore giving Joe Biden a federal House and Senate majority would have awful consequences for the country. Yes, it’s that important.
Lastly, it’s best for Trump to retain his position until the moment calls for him to step down. At this late hour, the hope of overturning the election might be microscopic in size, but it’s worth the chance. Simply put, Donald Trump is/was a great president in nearly every respect. I trust him with the presidency, which is arguably the most consequential title in the world.
At best, Joe Biden will be a placeholder president. He survived in the swamp long enough to be perhaps the last Democrat candidate capable of winning a national election of this magnitude. And it’s not due to merit, it’s because Barack Obama needed a retirement age Caucasian man with experience to serve as his running mate and then vice president, just the way Biden chose Kamala Harris because she’s a woman and a minority to match his own demographic desires. Since Biden knows all the establishment swamp creatures -- including Mitch McConnell -- he’s able to pass himself off as a unifying figure.
But it doesn’t make him competent. World leaders are laughing at us right now. They know what Grampa Joe is capable of -- and where he’s compromised. American foreign policy will suffer. Our enemies will test us. And with Biden at the helm, we’ll flunk.
America’s future is too imperative to “concede” and give up the battle simply because there’s pressure to do so. I trust President Trump’s instincts on when the proper time is to walk away. Until then, the media can just stew over it.
Biden tries to shame Georgia candidates because they’re sticking with Trump
Everyone knows Joe Biden barely broke a sweat on the campaign trail this year, seemingly hiding to limit gaffes as well as give voters a chance to absorb the media’s 24/7 blame game over COVID-19. It helped convince states to adopt mail-in voting, and the results were predictable. Georgia was a perfect example of the mistake.
The Democrat president-elect is trying to stir up trouble there to provide himself some semblance of governing power in the next two years. Barnini Chakraborty reported at The Washington Examiner, “Fresh off his Electoral College win, President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday headlined a drive-in rally in Georgia where he knocked Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler for embracing President Trump's numerous attempts to overturn the election results. Perdue and Loeffler ‘fully embraced nullifying nearly 5 million Georgia votes,’ Biden said. ‘You might want to remember that come Jan. 5.’…
“’Send me these two men [Democratic senatorial candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock] and we will control the Senate, and we will change the lives of the people in Georgia,’ Biden said.
“The Democratic challengers are hoping to capitalize on the former vice president's popularity in the Peach State to give their campaigns a boost.”
Almost coughed up my lunch on that at one. Joe Biden… popular? In whose universe? Biden was the default choice for millions of people who were misled into believing Donald Trump allowed the CCP virus to get out of control. This was after years of being told Trump conspired with the Russians to steal the 2016 election. Biden joined in on both finger pointing fronts. He also fanned racial flames with his “need to restore the soul of the nation” crapola.
Ossoff and Warnock should be forced to declare their undying devotion to Joe Biden and his radical leftwing agenda. Then we’ll see how many “moderate” voters go to chase him at campaign appearances. No wonder they stay in their cars and honk their horns.
It's a sad fact that personal popularity -- and not the issues -- tends to determine elections. Donald Trump is both the most loved and most hated of politicians in America right now. And people tolerate Joe Biden because they have to. Trump will decide when the time is right to recognize Biden -- or not. Until then, it’s in his hands alone.
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