Step Two. President Donald Trump has now authorized the GSA to provide the cooperation and the funds to the Biden team to effectuate the transition of power, from one presidency to another.
Step One should have preceded Step Two. In elections, somebody wins and somebody loses. In the 2020 presidential election, you, President Trump, lost. The longer you refuse to concede, the more damage you do do your name, your reputation, your party, your successor administration and your country. Do you really want to be remembered as the Richard Nixon of the 21st-century?
You have some remarkable successes to your credit (see above); you have got some grand failures to your credit. Both are history — except for your remaining days in office, which, by the way, you are squandering by taking up so much of your time and mental energy on a lost cause. The election results will not be reversed. You were fond of saying 2016 that you won fair and square. This time around, Joe Biden won fair and square. The smart people in your administration acknowledge this and have already moved on, or are pursuing their next chapter. So should you.
If you think your current recalcitrant rejection of the 2020 election results will somehow position you for a comeback in 2024 by showing your supporters that you cannot be pushed around, you may be right. You have been underestimated before. However, we’re not betting on this scenario. What would be your strategy? To claim four years from now that you were cheated out of office? State after state, the courts do not agree. Fraud will not be a persuasive platform for another presidential run. Not to mention, once you are out of power, no other Republican presidential hopeful will owe you the slightest deference, nor be cowed by your threats, since you will hold no power.
In 2016, virtually no major leader in the opposition gave you the courtesy you deserved. You were hounded by a multiyear Russia-collusion investigation that went nowhere. Now, you have the power to stop this mean-streaked trajectory. Man up. Extend to President-elect Biden the congratulations he now deserves. This is Step One.
Then, move on.
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