Trump doesn’t plan to concede if Biden is declared president-elect: report
The incumbent president would be the first presidential candidate to refuse the ceremonious concession in
As Donald Trump faces the possibility of being a one-term president, the boorish leader is reportedly planning not to concede to his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, if the former vice president is victorious in the 2020 general election.
According to CBS News, Trump may break a 124-year American tradition by not giving a concession speech in the now likely event that Biden is elected the 46th president of the United States.
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The Associated Press currently has Biden with 264 electoral college votes (other outlets have him at 253) to Trump’s 214. If Biden reaches the 270 mark, he will be declared president-elect.
Trump, who declined to a peaceful transfer of power in the weeks leading up to Election Day, would do away with a long tradition of acknowledging defeat by their political opponent. While it’s not a part of U.S. law or the Constitution, the conventional gesture has been employed by presidential candidates as far back as 1896, according to USA Today.
Essentially, concessions are meant to preserve American democracy and unite the country after a hard-fought contest.
Trump caused shock on Thursday night after holding a press conference at the White House where he fabricated accusations in an attempt to sow doubt on the legitimacy of the election.“We’re hearing stories that are horror stories. … We think there is going to be a lot of litigation because we have so much evidence and so much proof,” Trump said.
As AP reports: “Trump has produced no evidence of systemic problems in voting or counting. In fact, the ballot-counting process across the country has been running smoothly for the most part, even with the U.S. in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic.”
When asked in July about Trump possibly not conceding if defeated by Biden, House Speaker U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi said, “Whether he knows it yet, or not, he will be leaving.”
“Just because he [does] not want to move out of the White House does not mean we won’t have an inauguration ceremony to inaugurate the duly elected president of the United States.”
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