Messages from around the world

The congratulations continue to roll in for the President-Elect Joe Biden, from world leaders including Boris Johnson, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau — major powerhouse countries that recognize the election results.

Turkey, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, waited longer. Omar Celik is a spokesman for the Turkish President and said that “Turkey will congratulate the winner as soon as the results of the election will become official as part of the respect it has for the U.S. people and democracy.” They were waiting for the “final results.” Now, even the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has congratulated President-Elect Joe Biden.

Yet there is one voice that is strangely quiet. A voice known for monopolizing press conferences. A voice that speaks over its advisors, drowns out its opponents and is famous for tweeting at a levet to which not even teenage girls could compete.

The President appears to be having a tantrum

Twitter / @DonaldJGrumpy

At the time of writing, Joe Biden has 295 electoral college votes, and Donald Trump has 217. Joe Biden won more votes than any other President in the history of the United States.

Donald Trump is famous for many things, but dignity and grace are not one of them. The President had the chance to accept defeat. A golden opportunity to concede with decorum and honor while upholding the principles of democracy and respecting the power of the ballot.

Instead, Trump is firing out tweets about unsubstantiated electoral fraud. He refuses to recognize his loss, tweeting “Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be? We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!”

He continues to emit a stream of baseless allegations with dangerous potential to stir civil unrest. Most of his tweets have been sent from the golf course. Biden has called his reaction “an embarrassment, quite frankly.”

Republican lawmakers are rewarding bad behavior

Screenshot / Twitter

A growing number of Trump officials, allies, and high-profile Republicans are standing by the President’s narrative. Attorney General William Barr has approved federal prosecutors to pursue allegations of “voter tabulation and irregularities.” This was an unprecedented move faced with the glaring lack of evidence of widespread fraud. The head of the Justice Department’s Election Crimes Branch resigned in protest.

Leading Republicans, including Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri and Senator Marc Rubio of Florida, have publicly supported Trump’s claims. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo went further, saying on Tuesday:

There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration.

This would be funny were it not terrifying

Pixabay

The President is within his rights to seek litigation but no amount of bruised ego will be enough for him to sue his way back into the White House. Trump’s refusal to concede graciously is not only hurling obstacles in Biden’s path to the White House — a path already rocky with the nation’s bitter partisanship and ongoing pandemic — but dangerous.

The transition period between presidents is when the nation is the most vulnerable. Government and public service experts fear the consequences of Trump continuing to hinder Biden’s path to the Oval Office.

Max Stier is president of the Partnership for Public Service. He warned:

We live in an incredibly dangerous world that moves very fast, so having a president truly ready to go on Day One is fundamental to our safety. There’s no more complicated or important organization on the planet in history than the U.S. government, and taking it over is a massive undertaking.

‘They are lying about it to protect his little feelings’

AP Photo / Evan Vucci

Tim Miller is a former Republican strategist and spokesperson for the Republican National Convention. He has spoken out against the Republican silence.

They all know he lost, and they are lying about it to protect his little feelings. It’s insane. They’re all playing pretend because Donald wants a participation trophy, and there are real human consequences — not just to our democracy, but threats to individuals and their lives.

The White House is blocking Biden’s transition team. Emily Murphy, a Trump-appointee, is president of the General Services Administration. She has refused to sign paperwork to release millions of dollars of preallocated funding to the Biden team.

The majority of Americans chose Joe Biden as their new leader. Unfortunately for democracy however, many powerful Republicans in close circles with the President are standing by his unfounded claims.

‘It’s racist, and it’s cowardly’

Flickr / Gage Skidmore

The deafening silence coming from so many elected Republicans to respect the decision of the American people has shocked and offended many people. Stuart Stevens was a top advisor on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. He pointed out that “people died for democracy,” and these Republicans cannot issue a two-line statement.

Every one of these Republicans is lying. They’re sitting there a few miles from Arlington [National] Cemetery, where people died for democracy, and they can’t get their communications shop to issue a two-sentence statement congratulating Biden.

Trump cheats on his wives. He cheats at golf. It comes as no surprise he will try to cheat at this election.

Trump is throwing his tweets out of his cot and every parent will recognize that the President needs a timeout. However, the growing number of Republicans lining silently, or loudly, behind the President does not bode well for a peaceful transition for a Biden-Harris team into the White House.