Did Donald Trump concede the 2020 election ... or didn’t he? The President seemed to be sending mixed messages as he tweets “he [Biden] won because the Election was Rigged” — his first acknowledgement that he believed he lost the presidential election to former-Vice President Joe Biden at all — before backtracking, and tweeting a barrage of baseless claims that the election was “rigged.”
“I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!” one later tweet read.
This comes nearly two weeks after Election Day, with Biden as the projected winner by most sources, leading with 290 electoral votes following projected wins in Georgia and Arizona.
Trump, however, continues to claim himself as the winner, making false allegations of “mechanical ‘glitches,’” lack of transparency in ballot counting and voter fraud, which election officials across the country and across party lines have said did not occur in this election.
Twitter has taken a stand against Trump’s baseless claims, at times including disclaimers that read “This claim about election fraud is disputed” or “Official sources called this election differently,” or outright obscuring the tweet.
But Trump continues to falsely insist on his victory, attempting to legally challenge the outcome in multiple states. However, many of the lawsuits have been withdrawn or thrown out, and none have led to any beliefs that the Biden’s win might be reversed, the Associated Press reported.
Even so, some Republicans continue to support Trump’s pursuit of a second term, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s promise of a “smooth transition to a second Trump administration,” he said last week.
“It is one more step in delegitimizing not just the incoming Biden administration, but democracy generally,” former President Barack Obama said on CBS’ "60 Minutes," “And that’s a dangerous path.”
Biden, however, has already begun establishing himself as the next leader of the United States as he hosts press conferences, meets with foreign dignitaries and releases press statements on what must be done to combat the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
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