It’s not easy for members of a reality-hating, MAGA-loving, math-averse party to ‘fess up to the facts of life. But it’s happening, folks – verrry verrry slowwwwly.
I’m referring, of course, to the reality that Joe Biden is President-elect, and that their grifter has been rejected by more voters – at last count, 77.5 million – than any president in history. Granted, most Republicans remain in the fetal position, too terrified to stand up for democracy and risk being abused by the toddler on Twitter. Their behavior is unpatriotic, and that’s the most charitable description. The good news, however, is that the GOP stonewall is starting to crack.
George W. Bush called to congratulate Biden and Kamala Harris, and he has issued this statement: “The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.” Karl Rove, the Bush electoral maestro, tells The Wall Street Journal: “Closing out this election will be a hard but necessary step toward restoring some unity and political equilibrium. Once (Trump’s) days in court are over, the president should do his part to unite the country by leading a peaceful transition and letting grievances go.”
Heck, even Robert Jeffress, a Trump-loving evangelical Christian leader, is already woke to reality. He says on the Fox News website: “When Joe Biden becomes president, we should commend him for the things he does right. We should condemn the things he does wrong. And above all, we must pray fervently for our president. If President Biden succeeds, we all succeed.”
Meanwhile, the Las Vegas newspaper owned by Trump money man Sheldon Adelson – a newspaper that twice endorsed Trump – is waving the white flag: “It is too fitting that the Trump presidency concludes amid a babel of bluster and bravado. But the president does a disservice to his more rabid supporters by insisting that he would have won the Nov. 3 election absent voter fraud. That’s simply false…Mr. Trump lost the election…He has nothing to lose by cooperating with President-elect Biden’s transition team.”
OK, maybe it’s easiest for Bush, Rove, Jeffress, and Adelson to face facts; they’re not office-holders who live in fear of grassroots MAGA wrath. But even some elected Republicans are coming around. Many of them are so-called moderates (Senator Susan Collins has congratulated Biden and says that “presidential transitions are important”), sporadic travelers of the high road (Senator Ben Sasse: “I congratulate the next president, Joe Biden”), and blue-state governors like Charles Baker in Massachusetts (who points out that Trump’s voter fraud claims are “baseless”) and Larry Hogan of Maryland (who says Trump needs to “at least acknowledge” that he’ll concede, because “we’ve got to move on”).
But now we’re hearing from people like Mike DeWine, governor of red Ohio, who says that “Joe Biden is the President-elect,” and we’re seeing tweets from grassroots Republicans like Corey Stapleton, the secretary of state in red Montana: “I have supported you, Mr. President, we have supported you – and (you) accomplished some incredible things during your time in office! But that time is now over. Tip your hat, bite your lip, and congratulate Joe Biden.”
And most notably, key Republican senators are starting to slow-walk Trump toward conceding the race that’s already over. It’s a clever tactic. They’re insisting that Trump should act in the national interest and ensure a smooth transition – by (among other things) ensuring that Biden has access to national security briefings. That’s tantamount to conceding, without Trump having to utter the word. In the words of Trump ally Kevin Cramer, a North Dakota senator, “I just think we ought to be cooperating. I think you can cooperate with a peaceful transition.”
John Thune, the number-two Republican in the Senate hierarchy, says Biden should get the briefings because “it’s important from a national security standpoint – continuity.” Charles Grassley, the chamber’s senior Republican, says: “I would think – especially on classified briefings – the answer is yes.” Mike Rounds, from red South Dakota, says Biden should get the briefings “as a matter of protecting out nation’s interests.” James Lankford, from red Oklahoma, says: “There’s nothing wrong with Vice President Biden getting the briefings to be able to prepare himself and so that he can be ready.” And even Trump toady Lindsey Graham is on board about this.
Alas, Trump at present remains too fixated on himself to see those smoke signals. It’s tough to console a two-year-old whose turtle just died. But perhaps the imminent failure of his suing strategy will do the trick. Or perhaps this announcement yesterday, from his own Department of Homeland Security, might wake him up: “The November 3 election was the most secure in American history…There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
Surely there must still be a way to fix things, to shore up the Republican stonewall. Trump is surely whining, “Where’s my Roy Cohn!”
Roy Cohn is dead. Democracy is alive.