During an appearance on Fox News Sunday over the weekend, Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wy.) unequivocally acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election and said that he accepts that Biden will be the next president of the United States. These facts of Biden’s victory and imminent presidency aren’t contestable, but outgoing President Donald Trump and some of his top political allies have refused to acknowledge this basic reality. During a tense recent meeting at the White House, Trump reportedly even raised the prospect of deploying the military to, presumably, conduct a new presidential election.
Even if Trump didn’t get to the stage of laying out a specific plan for this prospective military deployment, the situation is serious. There’s nothing flippant or “jokey” about the outgoing president of the United States suggesting the usage of the military to remain in power after losing an election. On Fox, Barrasso offered an opposing perspective, commenting as follows:
‘It didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to, but the electoral college has now certified the election, we have the Constitution, and I accept the outcome of the election.’
Check out his comments below:
Accepting the results of the election now qualifies as a profile in courage for Republicans pic.twitter.com/EvmrosoCbm
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 20, 2020
Similarly, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) finally acknowledged Biden’s victory after last week’s electoral college vote. During that electoral college vote, Republicans staged their own gatherings in a handful of states where Biden won under the pretense of preparing alternate electoral votes for Congress to potentially certify down the line, but these supposed alternate electoral votes from Trump-supporting Republicans have no meaningful validity. In every state across the nation, as outlined in state laws, electoral college members cast their votes in support of the candidate who won the popular vote in their respective states. Although a couple of Republicans have raised the prospect of challenging the electoral vote totals when Congress certifies the outcome, there’s no legitimate indication whatsoever that these efforts will get anywhere meaningful.
Some of Trump’s remaining allies in his fight against the election outcome include Rudy Giuliani, Kayleigh McEnany, Stephen Miller, and Michael Flynn — the last of whom has delusionally backed the imposition of martial law in the United States.
