The tradition in Presidential elections is for the loser to concede with grace and statesmanship.
One can forget about that with President Donald Trump, who is promoting conspiracy theories, and according to some sources, has every intention of refusing to cooperate on the transition, and staying in the White House on Inauguration Day, January 20, 2021, refusing to leave the building or attend the inauguration of his successor.
Other Presidents have refused to attend the inauguration of their successor, including John Adams when Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated in 1801; John Quincy Adams when Andrew Jackson was inaugurated in 1829; and Andrew Johnson when Ulysses S. Grant was inaugurated in 1869.
We have seen in modern times all of the Presidential losers concede graciously—Richard Nixon in 1960, Barry Goldwater in 1964, Hubert Humphrey in 1968, George McGovern in 1972, Gerald Ford in 1976, Jimmy Carter in 1980, Walter Mondale in 1984, Michael Dukakis in 1988, George H. W. Bush in 1992, Bob Dole in 1996, Al Gore in 2000, John Kerry in 2004, John McCain in 2008, Mitt Romney in 2012, and Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Donald Trump is acting like a spoiled child, a privileged character, a prima donna, who clearly would love to be an authoritarian dictator and has been a threat for four years, but the American people have clearly made him aware that his “employment” in the White House for four more years is not desired, and that he has, effectively, been “fired” by a vast margin of about 5-6 million popular votes by the time all of the votes are counted!
I think it’s time for the networks to call the race.
They’re waiting for mathematical certainty—until there’s not enough ballots left out to change the outcome. They’re afraid of Trump and his supporters.
I second that, Former Republican. They are all afraid to be the first one to call the election for Biden and enrage the beast in his White House cage.
Honestly, if they refuse to call the election at all, Trump’s term will expire on Jan. 20, regardless and then what? They want Pelosi as POTUS? They can only hold off the inevitable for so long, this is getting silly.
I truly believe there is one reason:
1) They are afraid of Trump and thus, instead of presenting him with the bad news, they indirectly participate in his efforts to sow chaos and conspiracy theories, further damaging US democracy and increasing his chances of succeeding with his post election shenanigans.
After the last 4 years has the media learned nothing? Trump will never concede. The same way he NEVER became more presidential. The same the garbage out of his mouth was NOT just campaign rhetoric. Ad nauseum. Have they not realized DJT will NEVER change? That his loyal minions & family will continue to enable him? Media needs to get real, declare for Biden, & begin the process of making DJT irrelevant.
I think it’s simpler than that. If they call the race and then through some bizarreness with provisional ballots it turns back in Trump’s favor, he will go on the rampage of all rampages against the networks. For that reason, they are going to protect themselves by not calling it until it is a 100 percent certainty.
The waiting sucks, but I’d just as soon be 100 percent certain myself.
Yesterday Chris Hayes had one of the guys from the “decision desk†on. One of the actual data guys who isn’t on tv very often. Not Kornacki, who isn’t actually part of the decision-making process.
Hayes asked him: I’m just going to ask this question out loud because it’s one that a lot of people are wondering about, have you not called this race because it’s Trump? Are you treating it differently? The guy’s answer: I have no comment on that.*
He continued on how they’re being as careful as always, blah blah blah, but his no comment line was a pretty obvious answer.
*PS: If anyone from NBC is reading get that guy immediately to the Positive Workplace class that you run. The part where you teach everyone, on-air talent and otherwise, that “no comment†is a bad answer for anything was particularly informative and fun. He had the deer-the-headlights look that you like your people to avoid.
Kornacki & Joe Scarborough this morning both sound more than a wee bit frustrated about the irregular, delayed ballot count reporting –
Kornacki: …Joe Biden’s statewide lead 28,833…Allegheny, they’ve released some of the mail in votes…Biden is winning somewhere in the high 70’s, close to 80%, which is entirely consistent with what we’ve been seeing across the state, where the mail ballots are overwhelmingly for Biden. So, if they’ve got 20,000 mail votes left, and if Biden gets 80% of them, then that would be 16,000 for Biden, and 4,000 for Trump. There would be a net gain of 12,000 for Joe Biden in Allegheny Co. So, if you take the 12,000 for Biden, and he’s already leading by 28,833 statewide, that will push his statewide lead to basically 40,000 votes, give or take….then Philadelphia…we have outstanding votes (there) as well—overwhelmingly these mail ballots, these absentee ballots are going for Joe Biden—in fact, in Philadelphia, it’s even more…it’s like 90%…they’ve got 15 to 20,000 absentee ballots left to go through, so, again if you go through those, that could pad Biden’s lead; he could add another 10,000 conservatively…that could put him at 50,000 statewide…
Scarborough: …Wasserman is actually expecting Biden to overperform in Philadelphia…
Kornacki: If you just use 50,000, and just use the provisional ballots…provisional ballots are traditionally Democratic…Trump would need to win 75,000…So you’re asking Trump to…have a landslide with provisional ballots, to get at least 75,000 of them…
Scarborough: …which is about as likely as Bernie Sanders getting a landslide in the state of Alabama if he ran for governor there…I’m that serious. That’s how improbable/ impossible (a Trump win in PA would be)…outside of Allegheny county, Trump would have to get 90%…
Hopefully, the network election outcome decision makers will come out of their bunkers and make a call on who’s the POTUS, by noon January 20, 2021.
Watching MSNBC makes clear that the on-air talent is exhausted. Rachel Maddow was exposed to Covid and has to quarantine, leaving one less person to cover the endless hours of treading water, trying to spin “no news†into “news.†I don’t think that the suits are delaying in order to keep eyeballs on their stations. I think they’re terrified of Trump, who will still be President once the race is called, and is enormously vindictive and dangerous.
Media finally called it! 🙂
No wonder Trumpy fled off to the golf course this morning.
Yes! There is a God!
Pennsylvania took him over! All three of the blue wall states are blue again! 🙂
They’re showing scenes of people on the streets in DC, NY, etc. cheering!
The mayor of Paris just tweeted – Welcome back, America
Congratulations to Joe and Kamala! This is a victory for all of us!
I’m crying as I hang my American Flag outside. It’s been waiting for days to be hung with pride on my front porch.
This flag fights Fascism with Liberty and Justice for all.
I will hang the American flag out as well. I vowed to only fly our state flag until the orange ogre was defeated.
So long. Farewell. Not gonna miss him.
Baby Donnie – You’re Fired!
I salute all of you for your excitement and sentiments, and know that I am ecstatic beyond belief, as Joe Biden has always been my favorite political leader since the death of Hubert Humphrey in 1978! 🙂
Associated Press is calling Nevada for Biden as well. That would raise it to 279. Still waiting for Arizona and Georgia.
Steve Kornaki can get some much needed sleep now.
I think we all may sleep the best sleep of the past four and then some years tonight.
#YOU’RE FIRED trending on Twitter.
I’m so happy!!!
Watching the celebrations everywhere reminds me of the end of Return of the Jedi! LOL!
They are celebrating on Endor!
Everyone sing with me: Na Na Na Na. Na Na Na Na. Hey Hey. Goodbye!
NBC now projecting Nevada! 🙂
Trumpy is obviously still in denial. LOL! He tweeted this morning: I WON THIS ELECTION, BY A LOT!
One bit of trivia I’ll be watching for: who will be the first Republican officeholder to congratulate the President Elect?
“Normally†it would be the losing candidate himself. With that not happening, who will it be?
I’ll guess “nobodyâ€
Reasonable guess. Other contenders, I think:
Senator Romney
Governor Hogan
or maybe someone getting ready for a 2024 run, deliberately defying Trump?
Senator Sasse
First Puppers-elect!
https://twitter.com/dog_rates/status/1325135859146924040
Tweet by Dr. Jill –
https://twitter.com/DrBiden/status/1325146858763718658
We will have a President with a sense of humor again.
Stacey Abrams deserves credit for helping flip Georgia from red to blue.
Melania and Jared want Trump to accept the election loss. Jr. and Eric want Trump to keep fighting.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/politics/jared-kushner-donald-trump-concession/index.html
LOL! Republicans want Cry Baby Donny to have “I was cheated” rallies.
Pence has become “Where’s Waldo”. Haven’t heard or seen him lately.
Jabba, a.k.a., Barr, also seems to be keeping quiet lately.
Trump is using his anger to fire people. He has fired his Defense Secretary, Mark Esper, who had already announced resignation.
For election night, Trump had another Covid party at the White House. Mark Meadows and Ben Carson have both tested positive.
White House is going to need some deep cleaning before Biden moves in.
Only Republicans in Congress who have congratulated Biden are Murkowski, Romney, Collins, and Sasse.