GOP NEEDS A ‘DESIGNATED CONCEDER’
Trump’s party should ensure a peaceful transition even if he won’t
Barring a radical twist of fate, the biggest uncertainty of the election now seems to be which number will be higher: total accusations of sexual assault against Donald Trump, or total electoral votes for him. Yet Trump says he will only accept the results “if I win,” prolonging what he calls the “suspense” over whether he will actually concede. This matters too much to be left to his whims, so Republicans should be prepared to do it for him.
The GOP needs at least one “designated conceder” and maybe more.
As he has whenever his poll numbers have deflated, Trump has begun whining about voter fraud and the election in general being rigged. As he summed up on Twitter, “The election is absolutely being rigged by the dishonest and distorted media pushing Crooked Hillary — but also at many polling places.”
On election night 2012, Trump responded to Mitt Romney’s loss in an Electoral College landslide in a series of tweets calling for a revolution. There was no real threat of millions taking to the streets because, like all of his modern predecessors, Romney gave a stiff yet gracious concession speech as soon as the results were clear. ‘UNITY THAT KEEPS US FREE’ By contrast, even before the release of the infamous Access
Hollywood video, Trump was losing and threatening the peaceful transfer of power that Richard Nixon called the way in which “we celebrate the unity that keeps us free.” Historians say this could be a first.
Trump’s latest dip into paranoia could mark a point of no return to reality. The mad scientists in the GOP made their monster sign a pledge to never ever leave them, nominated him for president and are still holding open a Supreme Court seat for him to fill. They own this.
The Republican base has been primed for decades to believe that the news media and the government are rigged against them. Some are already plotting armed dissent should Hillary Clinton win. “If she’s in office, I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot,” Dan Bowman, a 50-year-old contractor, told
It doesn’t help when Trump supporters make comments such as, “I would have to be a moron” to say the elections in Philadelphia and Chicago will be fair, as Rudy Giuliani did this month on CNN.
In the face of this, the Republicans need to put forth a ‘designated conceder’ ready to take the stage for a presidential nominee whose ego might not allow him any such decency.
The obvious choice is the highest-ranking elected GOP official — House Speaker Paul Ryan. He has said through spokesperson AshLee Strong that he is “fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity.”
Vice presidential nominee Mike Pence similarly told NBC recently, “We will absolutely accept the result of the election.”
Either man might soothe GOP donors and others who swoon over their non-Trumpiness. But much of the GOP base won’t buy it. Trump has been attacking Ryan and “the establishment” for months. The stated goal of Steve Bannon, Trump campaign CEO and overlord, is to “destroy” Ryan, according to
As for Pence, we know from the second debate that Trump has no problem dismissing him and his views in front of tens of millions of people.
To connect with the high Trumpists, the conceder has to be someone who has Trump’s trust and would be willing to do the job. Anyone in his will is out, so we could be stuck with campaign manager Kellyanne Conway. Alternatively, Sarah Palin might be persuaded to use the concession speech she didn’t get to give in 2008. ADAMS VS. JEFFERSON The election of 1800 was a contentious one that saw President John Adams defeated by Thomas Jefferson, his own vice president, after Jefferson accused him of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character.” On Inauguration Day, Adams left town before sunrise, well before Jefferson took the oath. But he did leave town.
Like jazz, the Internet and Beyoncé, the peaceful transfer of power is one of America’s great gifts to the world.
The GOP’s best play to counter all this talk of rigging may be to gather its last two presidents and presidential nominees — George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, Romney and John McCain — to form an Avengers of Concession. America loves reboots. This one can remind us that though both parties have their differences, the sanctity of our democracy is not one of them.