Advisers urge Trump to prepare for defeat — but maybe without a concession speech

saltwn · #1 (**permalink**) 11-06-2020, 09:26 PM

Quote:

President Trump vowed on Friday to continue to fight the election results, privately urging allies and advisers to defend him publicly and insisting that he still had a path to victory over former vice president Joe Biden.

But behind the scenes over the past two days, advisers have broached with the president the prospect of an electoral defeat, and how he should handle such an outcome...

Some close to the president are advocating that, if Biden is declared the winner of the presidential election, Trump will ultimately offer public remarks in which he commits to a peaceful transition of power, according to allies and Republican officials, who like others on Friday spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. One senior campaign aide, however, said there had been no discussion of a concession speech.

Trump is unlikely to ever concede in the traditional sense, allies said — giving the sort of gracious, magnanimous speech the nation has come to expect at the end of even the most hard-fought presidential contests. If he loses, these people added, they expect Trump to continue to baselessly claim, as he has done for several days now, that the election was stolen.

Since Election Day, the president has acknowledged to some advisers that he faces an uphill battle but has argued it is still a battle worth having.

Still, some in Trump’s orbit have worked to calm the president and help push him toward what many privately acknowledge is an increasingly likely outcome: the loss of the White House, for a man who has made clear he detests losing almost above all else.

After an angry appearance in the White House briefing room Thursday evening in which he called into question the legitimacy of the election results, aides persuaded the president on Friday to release a more measured statement about the unfolding vote counting and to refrain from any public appearances.

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This is so bad for the country

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