Trump, for a moment, alludes to electoral defeat

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump has yet to admit defeat in the US election. But with a word here, a slip there, he is raising the perspective more and more clearly.

In a tweet Sunday morning, Trump appeared to accidentally acknowledge Joe Biden’s victory, before swiftly reversing course to claim that he won, and again pressing unsubstantiated claims of massive voter fraud.

“He won because the election was rigged,” Trump tweeted.

The first two words, days after a verbal slip in which Trump said “time will tell” if he remains president, were immediately taken as one more step toward a concession.

But the president soon took a 180-degree turn by tweeting: “He only won in the eyes of FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I grant NOTHING! We have a long way to go. “

President-elect Biden garnered 306 Electoral College votes in the Nov. 3 election, 36 more than needed to win the White House, and the exact number that Trump called a “landslide” when he won in 2016.

Top federal and state election authorities, including a top cybersecurity agency and 16 federal prosecutors assigned to oversee the elections, have rejected claims of widespread election manipulation.

Still, Trump continues to insist that he will prove fraud and prevail in court.

Meanwhile, leaders of nearly every country in the world congratulated Biden on his victory, reinforcing the idea that hardly anyone, in the United States or elsewhere, is taking Trump’s legal challenges seriously.

Judges have almost universally dismissed such challenges as unfounded.

In reaction to Trump’s tweet, Biden’s newly appointed chief of staff, Ron Klain, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it was “further confirmation of the reality that Joe Biden won the election.”

“If the president is prepared to begin to recognize that reality, that is positive,” he said.

Biden himself was meeting Sunday in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, with his transition advisers, his spokesmen said.

Some Trump administration officials say privately that they understand that Biden won, but that the president needs time to “process” his loss.

Others, abroad, speculate that Trump may be trying to galvanize his base to back some future business or media effort or even to support a new bid for office in 2024.

– ‘There is damage’ –

So far, the president has refused to cooperate in the change to a Biden administration, denying the Democrat both federal funding for transition work and vital briefings from outgoing officials.

Democrats say this could have a damaging impact on both national security and the serious and growing challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Joe Biden will become president of the United States amid an ongoing crisis,” Klain said. “It has to be a perfect transition.”

For now, he said, Biden and his team are not even allowed to consult with someone like the government’s top immunologist, Anthony Fauci.

“Of course it would be better” if they could start such talks, Fauci told CNN on Sunday, noting that the virus could kill tens of thousands more Americans by the time Biden takes office on January 20. “That’s obvious”.

Former President Barack Obama told CBS “Sunday Morning” that Trump’s delay in acknowledging Biden’s victory has a price.

“There is harm in this,” Obama said, adding that millions of people would believe there was fraud, because the president said so, in a development corrosive to democracy.

Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator who had sought the Democratic nomination, called Trump’s refusal to concede based on unsubstantiated claims of fraud “absolutely shameful and anti-American.”

“I just hope God has the decency in him to be a man and say, ‘You know what? We fought hard, we lost the election, good luck to Joe Biden, ‘”Sanders told CNN.

A small but growing number of Republican figures have begun pushing for Trump to relent.

Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine told CNN that Biden “certainly” was president-elect, adding: “For the good of the country, it is important that a normal transition begin.”

And Trump’s former national security adviser, John Bolton, a critic of the president since he left the administration, told CNN that it was crucial for more Republicans to persuade Trump that he had lost in a fair election.

Bolton added: “I don’t expect him to leave nice. I hope it goes away. “

– Big pro-Trump rally –

More than 10,000 Trump supporters demonstrated in Washington on Saturday to back up his fraud allegations, gathering in Washington’s Freedom Plaza before marching to the Supreme Court in a strident atmosphere.

After dark, skirmishes broke out as Trump supporters and counter-protesters clashed in the streets, fighting and throwing punches.

At least 20 people were arrested, according to reports, including four for firearms violations and one for assaulting a police officer.

Trump himself drove past the rally in his armored caravan, on his way to play golf, grinning through the window of his limousine to wild cheers.

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