Editors of the conservative National Review magazine have described Donald Trump’s refusal to concede as ‘a bid for infamy’ in an unusually harsh op-ed ridiculing the president.
As an increasing number of Republicans urge the president to respect the results of the democratic process, the editors, led by Rich Lowry, called on Trump to accept defeat with grace, for the good of the country.
They pointed out in an article on Friday that his legal challenges were going nowhere, and only served to embarrass the nation.
Thursday’s press conference at the RNC headquarters – which saw Rudy Giuliani drip with sweaty hair dye down his face and Sidney Powell claim that Venezuela, China and Cuba was involved in a plot to undermine the result – was described as ‘the most outlandish and irresponsible performance ever by a group of lawyers representing a president of the United States.’
Thursday’s press conference with Rudy Giuliani (pictured) was described as ‘outlandish’
Giuliani on Thursday staged a riveting press conference to make wild accusations of fraud
Sidney Powell, who was dropped by the Trump legal team on Sunday, was mocked
‘This is lawyering worthy of the comments section of Breitbart News,’ they wrote.
Powell was mocked for her suggestion that the election machines were deliberately switching votes.
‘An obvious question is why, if you can manipulate the vote count via machine, you’d need to bother with old-fashioned fraudulent ballots,’ they ask.
The authors note that in Pennsylvania and Michigan, they have not been able to come up with evidence to suggest that enough ballots were altered to have an impact on the end result, with Biden having won the states by many thousands of votes.
‘Since courts generally won’t consider fraud claims that don’t involve enough votes to make a difference in an outcome, this is a major blow against the Trump litigation strategy,’ they write.
Donald Trump, seen on Sunday greeting supporters, is pursuing an aggressive legal strategy
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National Review’s editors say that they have ‘always taken voter fraud seriously,’ and hope that any ‘is exposed and prosecuted.’
‘But it’s important to recognize that the broad contours of the 2020 presidential vote make sense.
‘At the RNC press conference, Giuliani made much of how the count switched against Trump after he established initial leads on Election Night in key states.
‘Yet this was expected and a function of the fact that same-day ballots strongly favoring Republicans were counted first, and early votes strongly favoring Democrats were counted last.’
The authors conclude that Trump, in a desperate last roll of the dice, is hoping to prevent the certification of votes and stop the electoral college members from casting their votes to seal Biden’s victory.
‘This is a profoundly undemocratic gambit that, if it were to enjoy any success, would precipitate a major constitutional crisis,’ they write.
Georgia poll workers are seen November 7. Claims of widespread fraud have not been proven
The magazine staff conclude by calling on Republicans to urge Trump to admit defeat and proceed with an orderly transition of power.
So far, the president has not shown any willingness to give up the White House.
Some aides and advisors, such as his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, are said to be telling him that the time is up. Others, such as Giuliani, are telling him to keep fighting.
Yet more are sidelined with COVID – among them Corey Lewandowski and David Bossie, who were supposed to be heading up the legal team.
Biden is expected to unveil more key figures in his team this week, in a move which will only serve to darken Trump’s mood.
Trump has three weeks until December 14, when the electors will meet to officially declare the winner of the election.