President Donald Trump doesn’t sound like he has any intention of conceding the presidential race any time soon — if at all, although his antagonism towards the prospect of conceding has no meaningful legal weight whatsoever. It’s just a formality. Nothing that the president says can in any way impact the basic reality of the votes against him that have been counted across the country. Nevertheless, Trump is keeping up with his anger. After the major networks called the race for Joe Biden on early Saturday, Trump’s campaign released a statement on his behalf in which he pledged continuing legal action — although it’s not as though there’s some kind of meaningful basis for many challenges that Trump’s team has already brought.
Trump angrily said as follows:
‘We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are rushing so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed. The simple fact is this election is far from over. Joe Biden has not been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any of the highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.’
To be clear: there’s no reason to believe that the Trump campaign’s legal challenges could actually determine the outcome of the election. They’ve failed to garner major legal successes — for instance, they tried to get Michigan to stop counting ballots until until Republicans got the observation access that they wanted, but this court request was denied. The president’s own allegations that Republican observers have been systematically excluded from the vote-tallying process is, quite simply, false. The people have spoken, and the entire bulk of American democracy is not going to change its direction just because Trump whinily asked it to.
The allegation that Republicans were excluded from observing the vote-tallying process isn’t the only Republican allegation that doesn’t have evidence. The idea that there’s some kind of nationwide conspiracy on the part of local officials to steal the election from Trump is simply unequivocally false. Trump insisted that “BAD THINGS” are happening across the country — which is just conspiratorial make-believe.
In his angrily self-delusional statement following the call for Biden, Trump petulantly said as follows:
‘Beginning Monday, our campaign will start prosecuting our case in court to ensure election laws are fully upheld and the rightful winner is seated. The American People are entitled to an honest election: that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots… It remains shocking that the Biden campaign refuses to agree with this basic principle and wants ballots counted even if they are fraudulent, manufactured, or cast by ineligible or deceased voters… So what is Biden hiding? I will not rest until the American People have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.’
Read the unhinged statement below:
The suggestion that the Biden wants fraudulent ballots counted is just plain laughable. If or when the Trump campaign raises this claim in court, they’ll have to prove it, with evidence — which they don’t have.
