US Elections: Why Donald Trump Won’t Give In & What The Future Holds

President Donald Trump never admits defeat. But he faces a tough choice now that Democrat Joe Biden has won the White House: to graciously concede for the good of the nation or not, and be evicted anyway.

After nearly four torturous counting days that gave Biden a victory on Saturday (local time), Trump continued to insist that the race was not over. He dismissed unsubstantiated allegations of election fraud, promised a series of legal actions, and released tweets in all caps falsely insisting that he “WON THIS ELECTION, BY FAR.

Trump is not expected to formally relent, according to people close to him, but he is likely to reluctantly leave the White House at the end of his term.

His continued efforts to paint the elections as unfair are seen as both an effort to calm a wounded ego and to show his loyal fan base that he is still fighting. That could be key to keeping them energized for what comes next.

“He intends to fight,” Trump’s economic adviser Larry Kudlow said when it became clear that the president was heading for defeat.

Would Trump ever concede? “I doubt it,” said Roger Stone, Trump’s longtime friend and adviser, whom the president recently pardoned. As a result, Stone said, Biden will have “a cloud over his presidency with half the people in the country believing he was elected illegitimately.”

THE STORY CONTINUES AFTER THE LIVE BLOG

THE STORY CONTINUES

The allies suggested that if Trump wants to launch a media empire in the next few years, he has an incentive to prolong the drama.

So, too, if you intend to keep the door open to a possible comeback in 2024, it would be only a year older than Biden now.

There are many in his inner circle who goad him, including his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. The former New York mayor has promised to provide the president with evidence of voter fraud, but he has produced little, including during a press conference he held today in the parking lot of a small Philadelphia landscaping company next to an adult bookstore.

Trump’s adult sons Donald Jr and Eric also urged their father to keep fighting and challenged Republicans to support them. However, other political allies and White House officials have pressed Trump to change his tune and commit to a smooth transition.

They have emphasized to him that history will be a harsh judge of whatever action he takes that is seen as undermining his successor. And he has been advised to deliver a speech next week pledging to support the transition.

Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner has told others that he has urged the president to accept the outcome of the race, even if Trump does not accept how it was achieved.

On Fox News, where prime-time anchors wield enormous influence over Trump, Laura Ingraham expressed the president’s belief that the elections had been unfair, while pleading with him to consider his legacy and preserve his status as republican kingmaker – gracefully leaving office.

“If the time comes to accept an unfavorable outcome in this election, and we hope it never comes, President Trump must do so with the same grace and composure that he demonstrated in that town hall with Savannah Guthrie,” he said Thursday.

“President Trump’s legacy will only be more meaningful if he focuses on moving the country forward.”

This story is based on interviews with more than a dozen Trump advisers and allies, many of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions. That the peaceful transfer of power was even in doubt reflected the rule-breaking habits of the now lame president, who even in victory never admitted that he had lost the popular vote in 2016.

Most attendees believed that the president would take the weekend to decide on a plan, which will surely involve more legal action. But some aides believe that legal skirmishes have more to do with giving the appearance of a fight than producing results.

There were some indications that Trump was moving in a less controversial direction, even as he continued to complain angrily to his aides, reviving old complaints about the Russia investigation that began under President Barack Obama.

In a statement Friday, Trump suggested that he would use all avenues of the law to challenge the election result.

The allies interpreted it as grudging acknowledgment of the likely outcome. “We will continue this process in all aspects of the law to ensure that the American people have confidence in our government,” Trump said in the statement. “I will never stop fighting for you and our nation.”

On Saturday, the White House issued a terse statement saying that the president “will accept the results of free and fair elections” and that the administration “is following all legal requirements.”

Still, there were concerns that Trump’s rhetoric would inflame tensions in a nation that was already bitterly divided before the election. Isolated skirmishes were reported near the tabulation centers in Philadelphia and Phoenix.

Pro-Trump protesters, some of them openly carrying rifles and pistols, marched outside counting facilities in some cities across the country on Friday, responding to Trump’s unsubstantiated allegations that Democrats were trying to rob the White House.

The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee have bombarded their supporters with passionate pleas for cash, raising tens of millions of dollars since Tuesday, according to people familiar with the matter.

Some of the money went to pay off the campaign debt, but the rest could be used to sustain an aggressive public campaign to further undermine faith in the election result.

Biden’s campaign made it clear that his patience had limits.

“As we said on July 19, the American people will decide this election,” Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said Friday.

“And the US government is perfectly capable of escorting intruders out of the White House.”

Trump, whose voluminous Twitter account seems to provide a fitting entry for any occasion, offered this advice in 2016: “Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and Dems:” In my opinion, it’s humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity, “So true!”