Why Won’t Trump Concede Defeat?

 by Mahir Asef

(image: Tim Mossholder)

On November 6th the major news organisations around the world began calling the 2020 U.S. election for Joe Biden. The election had remained evenly poised for three days but Biden’s projected win in Pennsylvania tipped him over the required 270 electoral college votes. The election had been much more closely fought than the polls had predicted but November 6th marked the first time the incumbent president did not win the election since the 1992 U.S. election (George H.W. Bush losing to Bill Clinton).

As in most elections, there is a high chance that there were misplaced ballots, uncounted votes or small-scale voter fraud in the 2020 election, but Trump would need to prove voter fraud in the thousands in several battleground states to change the election result. For example, Biden currently holds a total lead of around 300,000 votes in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin. This shows the massive levels of voter fraud Trump would have to prove to turn over the election result. You would think an intelligent man like Donald Trump would realise there is almost no chance he overturns the election so why does he not concede defeat gracefully?

One reason is that Donald Trump cannot bear to lose. In fact, he has publicly called around 200 people "losers" during his presidential term. Instead, he believes if you persevere you will win; however, in this case that is highly unlikely. 

Furthermore, by refusing to concede and by arguing that it was a rigged election, Trump can cast doubt on Biden’s election victory; his extremely loyal fanbase will mean this election is always looked at with doubt regarding the legitimacy of the result. Around 70% of Republican party voters believed that the election contained some type of rigging and fraud; that is a massive amount for the country that prides itself on being the heart of democracy around the world.

As Donald Trump’s legal claims have little-to-no substance, it is likely his court cases will be decided well before the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. However, the idea that this election was rigged will always persist as Trump and his loyal supporters will never concede this defeat. In fact, due to his huge support, we could see Donald Trump or another Trump family member running for president in 2024.