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- Gerardo Lissardy
- BBC World News, New York
Credit, fake images
Trump has been in the White House and out of the public eye most of the time since the election.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has been doing something constant for more than two weeks since the elections: allege, without showing evidence, that the vote was rigged against him.
Despite the fact that his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, won enough electoral votes to succeed him in office, Trump refused to follow the tradition of publicly acknowledging that victory.
With the exception of a few public appearances and a few rounds of golf at his private club in Virginia, the president has been in the White House since election night, with no activities on his official schedule.
But Trump posted more than 400 tweets or retweets in this period, the vast majority to reject the election results. The closest he came to tacitly admitting Biden’s triumph was writing on Sunday (11/15): “He won because …”
Of course, he immediately added that “the election was rigged” and, shortly after, clarified in another tweet: “I grant NOTHING! We have a long way to go.”
Different experts rule out that Trump could reverse the election results through his legal claims so far without evidence of fraud, especially after a group of election officials at the federal, state and local levels concluded that the election was “the safest in the United States history”. United States”.
However, some warn that the current president may aim for other less obvious goals.
“I think there are several reasons why Trump refuses to budge and makes false allegations of voter fraud, most likely financially motivated,” says Brendan Fischer, director of federal reform at the Legal Campaign Center. non-profit and nonpartisan group that promotes political-electoral transparency.
1. money
Since the election, the Trump campaign has sent dozens of daily emails and phone messages to supporters requesting money from an “electoral defense fund.”
But Fischer considers it unlikely that the money raised will be used to combat “fraud,” to fund vote counting or legal battles, as both the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee have separate funds for this.
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Trump’s campaign solicited donations from his supporters after the election
Instead, he notes that most donations go to a new political action committee that the president created after the election, a fundraising instrument that accepts up to $ 5,000 (approximately $ 26,000) per donor year and has “relatively few restrictions on how money is used” compared to campaign funds.
“Now the money (raised on behalf of electoral defense) goes primarily to Trump’s new political action committee, who can use it to support a political career and potentially even line their own pockets after he leaves the White House,” he added . Fischer says.
Trump’s team presented the creation of the political action committee as natural and planned in advance.
“The president has always planned to do this, whether he wins or loses, to support the candidates and the issues that concern him, such as fighting voter fraud,” said Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh.
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Biden is already preparing his administration, despite Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his victory
However, Susan Del Percio, a political strategist who on the campaign was part of a group of Republicans who opposed Trump, called Project Lincoln, said the president could use the money raised to defend himself against the lawsuits he would face in New York. . leaving the White House on January 20 and losing his immunity in office.
“That’s why he refuses to admit defeat. The longer the president takes to do that, the more money he can raise,” Del Percio said in an article published on NBC News.
2. Power
On the other hand, everything indicates that Trump aspires to remain active in politics after leaving the White House.
And while Biden garnered nearly six million votes more than he did, the 73 million votes cast by the president augur that he will maintain critical influence within the Republican Party.
Some experts believe that Trump’s refusal to accept Biden’s victory also aims to keep his electoral base mobilized, perhaps with the idea of running again in the 2024 presidential election.
Credit, fake images
Thousands of Trump supporters marched through the streets of Washington DC on Saturday
“I suspect that a big reason for him to refuse to grant the election, even if there is no possibility that a recount in any state will nullify the results, has to do with trying to remain relevant among that faction (of voters),” says David Parker. , Professor of Political Science at Montana State University, BBC World, the BBC’s Hispanic Service,
Despite the lack of evidence of fraud, half (52%) of Republicans believe that Trump “legitimately won” the election, according to a Reuters / Ipsos poll released this week.
Parker warns that Trump’s attitude may “undermine Biden’s ability to govern and pressure Republican lawmakers in Congress who could work with Biden and then run in 2024 because of the government’s failure.”
Even if Trump avoids running again, he adds, it could influence the choice of the Republican candidate.
The president’s strategy of denouncing fraud without evidence will be put to a major test in the second round on Jan. 5 in Georgia in the race for state Senate seats.
If the Democrats take those seats away from the Republicans, they will also have a majority in the upper house of Congress, as well as in the lower house.
Credit, fake images
Golf is one of the few reasons Trump has left the White House since the election.
It is impossible to know when Trump will publicly accept Biden’s triumph.
Will this happen after all states have certified their election results in the coming weeks? Perhaps when the Electoral College formally elects the next president on December 14? Or will Trump avoid acknowledging it indefinitely?
The truth is that Biden has begun to increase pressure on Trump, warning, for example, that refusing to help an orderly transition could complicate the fight against the coronavirus that is estimated to have killed more than 250,000 people in the United States.
“More people can die if there is no cooperation,” said the president-elect.
The more time passes, the more Trump will also test the loyalty of Republican figures who have avoided contradicting him in public. And also from your voters.
In this sense, Trump’s gamble seems to carry, in addition to possible personal rewards, several risks.
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