President Donald Trump has refused to admit to the basic reality that he lost the recent presidential election, and he doesn’t seem likely to admit to this basic reality any time soon. He and his top allies have alleged that widespread fraud plagued the recent presidential election, but they have no meaningful evidence for their claims. The Department of Homeland Security itself has characterized the recently concluded election as the “most secure in American history.” In an appearance this week on CNN, Cindy McCain — the late John McCain’s widow — said that her husband would have wanted the U.S. to accept Biden as president-elect.
A slew of top Republicans have expressed support for the president’s baseless allegation that widespread fraud at least could have plagued the recent presidential election — many Republican U.S. Senators have openly refused to acknowledge Biden as the president-elect.
Cindy said that her late husband would be telling his Republican colleagues that “it is time that we move on. It’s time that we heal, it’s time that we support our president-elect.” Cindy also added that her late husband would be encouraging the General Services Administration to officially acknowledge Biden as the president-elect, which would free up government resources for the Biden-Harris transition team. So far, the General Services Administration, which is a federal agency, has declined to officially acknowledge Biden’s win, despite his substantial leads across key states.
While on CNN, Cindy added:
‘As you know, John was one that stood for the deep honor and democratic process that this country represents, and the fact that that is not necessarily occurring right now, and that there are people who might just want to undermine the process, would really… rile him up.’
Cindy — who is a part of the Biden-Harris transition team that is preparing for Biden’s inauguration as president next January — also praised the president-elect more broadly. She endorsed him before Election Day, and Biden ended up winning her home state, which hadn’t gone to a Democratic presidential nominee since Bill Clinton was on the ballot in the late 1990s. Biden also flipped the frequent Republican stronghold of Georgia, which hadn’t gone to a Democratic presidential nominee since the first time that Clinton was on the ballot.
‘I think Vice President Biden is going to make an incredible president, and not only that, I think that his standards, his values, the things… that he works for, working together, working across the aisle, making sure that he does things not for himself but for the good of the country, those are the values that he’s always had, and I look forward to watching him and participating in this down the line.’
Watch Cindy McCain’s comments below:
Trump’s refusal to concede — and the Republican support for this refusal to concede — have no legal weight. Trump will no longer be president after Biden’s inauguration, whether he admits to this basic reality or not. However, there’s a major problem in that Trump continues to undermine trust in the democratic process among his supporters and their allies.
