Trump REFUSES to admit defeat as sons demand ‘manual election recount’ and even Melania tells him don’t give up
DONALD Trump has doubled down on his refusal to accept election defeat as his sons demanded a “manual recount” and even Melania told him not to give up.
The president returned to the golf course today and continued to rage against the “stolen” election as a “black mood” fell over the White House.
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Trump vented his fury in a series of tweets on Sunday and said: “Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be?”
Earlier in the day, his son, Eric, : “Software from hell! There needs to be a manual recount of every ballot in this country right now!”
His tweet linked to a Breitbart article reporting that another county in Georgia is “encountering a glitch.”
According to the report, the glitch has caused a slowdown in the tallying of thousands of votes.
In response to Conservative Matt Schlapp’s listing all the problems with the “fraudulent” ballots, Eric tweeted: “And so much more.”
Some of the categories he listed were: Dead people voting, Non Nevadans voting, Republicans kept from voting, and kids voting.
Donald Trump Jr also expressed his concern to social media, : “We went from 4 years of Russia rigged the election, to elections can’t be rigged really fast didn’t we???”
Trump Jr later re shared a tweet slamming the alleged election fraud as “so broad they thought it would be undetectable.”
He replied with: “DECLASSIFY EVERYTHING!!! We can’t let the bad actors get away with it.”
Outgoing First Lady .
In a Twitter message she wrote: “The American people deserve fair elections.
“Every legal – not illegal – vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency.”
In addition to Eric and Trump Jr taking the president’s side, it’s “premature” for Trump to concede because “we do not know at this point who won the election.”
US Senator Lindsey Graham also showed supported for president and told Maria Bartiromo on Fox: “Trump has not lost. Do not concede, Mr. President, fight hard.”
“If Republicans don’t challenge and change the U.S. election system, there’ll never be another Republican president elected again,” Graham said during the morning interview.
Despite the seemingly growing support for Trump not to accept Joe Biden’s presidential win, the president golfed at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, on Sunday.
At one point he was photographed giving a thumbs up in the motorcade to the golf course.
“Donald Trump is spending his first day as a lame duck president at his Virginia golf club,” Jill Colvin wrote alongside a photo she .
The president struck back at his critics on Sunday afternoon in a fiery tweet asking why the media gets to call the election result.
“We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!” he .
Earlier this morning he blasted the “big city machines” as “corrupt.”
He : “This was a stolen election. Best pollster in Britain wrote this morning that this clearly was a stolen election, that it’s impossible to imagine that Biden outran Obama in some of these states.
“Where it mattered, they stole what they had to steal.”
Meanwhile, is reportedly at the center of a blame game by top aides who believe the 39-year-old adviser bears the ultimate responsibility for losing the to .
as he tweeted in all capitals yesterday “I WON” and continues to claim widespread fraud despite not offering any evidence.
He is also preparing a raft of legal challenges as his campaign claims the Democrats are trying to “steal” the election.
In a string of tweets on Sunday, he quoted Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University, and Republican grandee Newt Gingrich.
Trump wrote: “When you talk about systemic problems, it’s about how these ballots were authenticated, because if there’s a problem in the system about authentication, that would seriously affect the ENTIRE ELECTION.”
Quoting Gingrich, he added its “impossible to imagine” that Biden outran Obama and claimed “they stole what they had to steal”.
Trump and his allies have not presented any evidence as to any fraud in the election.
Ivanka’s husband Kushner, who is one of Trump’s closest aides, is said to have finally gone to the president and told him to concede, reports CNN.
It ends speculation about who would be the one to tell the President it was time to stop the denial and begin a peaceful transition of power to Biden.
White House sources however claimed Kushner is now in the firing line of Trump’s team who are scrambling to piece together reasons for the defeat as .
alongside his VP Kamala Harris as he vowed to “heal America” and told Republicans to give him “a chance” so he he can “unify and not divide.”
Kushner is seen as the de facto chief of staff in the Trump team and was the brains behind the re-election campaign.
He is a constant presence at the President’s side, and has been with him since the election results starting rolling in on November 4.
“The only constant in this campaign, from Day One, to the very last day, was Kushner,” a Trump ally told .
“So if the president wins, Kushner deserves credit, but if he loses, Kushner deserves the blame.”
It had been speculated that Kushner and Ivanka were considered the two most likely figures in Trump’s inner circle to urge him to concede.
In the meantime, Biden’s senior advisor Symone Sanders has revealed that Trump nor any White House reps have reached out to the former VP since his election win was announced, Business Insider .
Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, she said: “I think the White House has made clear what their strategy is here and that they are going to continue to participate and push forward these flailing and in many respects, baseless, legal strategies.”
The president’s mood was “black” on Saturday as he headed golfing before all major networks called the election for Biden, a White House adviser told .
Reports have suggested in January while staffers have lit rose-scented candles to try and ease his frustration.
Hallie Jackson, MSNBC’s White House correspondent, said: “I had one person close to the White House tell me, ‘No one is willing to tell King Lear the truth’.”
Sources close to Donald Trump have claimed he may “never” formally concede the elections, reports The Associated Press.
The President however is expected to “grudgingly” vacate the White House at the end of his term, the agency reported.
His ongoing efforts to paint the election as unfair are seen both as an effort to soothe a bruised ego and to show his loyal base of supporters that he is still fighting.
That could be key to keeping them energized for what comes next – with Trump now facing a fight to keep control of the Republican Party heading into 2024.
Trump’s longtime friend and adviser Roger Stone said Biden will have a “cloud over his presidency with half the people in the country believing that he was illegitimately elected”.
Insiders told the that the mood within the White House remains “manic, exuberant, energized and toxic” as the president and his inner circle chow down on fast food.
Sources told Daily Mail that Trump’s aides and sons have been “egging him on” as the president plans to pursue his legal challenges to the election.
Both have also challenged Republicans to stand with them.
JOE ADDRESSES THE NATION
The Democrat, 77, called for an end to “this grim era of demonization” and reached out to Trump supporters, saying: “Let’s give each other a chance.”
“I pledge to be a president who does not seek to divide, but unify,” Biden said. “Who doesn’t see red states and blue states, but United States.”
Speaking directly to Trump supporters, the president-elect said: “I understand the disappointment tonight. I’ve lost a couple of times myself. But now let’s give each other a chance.
“It’s time to put away the harsh rhetoric, lower the temperature, see each other again, listen to each other again.”
Much of Biden’s speech focused on unity at a time when the nation is dealing with incredible division and turmoil.
He said: “The Bible tells us: to everything there is a season, a time to build, a time to reap, a time to sow, and a time to heal. This is the time to heal in America.”
In a veiled attack on Trump, he urged Americans to reject “demonization” and let the country’s “better angels” prevail.
Biden continued: “I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation – the middle class – and to make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home.”
“He has no concession speech ready and no intention of recognizing Joe Biden’s presidency,” a source told the outlet.
The president, who has claimed without evidence that Biden tried to “steal” the election, remains surrounded by his family and an “army of lawyers.”
The source said: “He is in fighting mode and is saying Biden would be a phony President and that he won’t turn up on January 20 as that would be an insult to democracy.”
Trump has repeatedly said he is going to litigate against the result of the election and is launching challenges in several states.
The President continues to insist only “legal votes” should count – but there is no suggestion there has been any significant number of “illegal votes”.
” I won the election, got 71,000 legal votes. Bad things happened which our observers were not allowed to see,” Trump moaned on Saturday.
The Trump campaign has filed suits in several battleground states where Biden led by a razor-thin margin, including Nevada, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia.
The narrative being created by Trump is that votes were counted illegally and Republican poll watchers were blocked from observing counts.
Trump has already accused Biden of “rushing to falsely pose as the winner” – despite him also declaring repeatedly, and often in all capitals, “I won”.
All major networks called the race for Biden on Saturday after an agonizingly slow vote count process due to a huge amount of mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The President has also suggested impropriety over the fact the mail-in votes seem to be skewed towards Biden – despite spending months urging his supporters not to use them.
Trump is not expected to invite Biden to the White House for the traditional meeting between incoming and outgoing presidents as Barack Obama did for him on November 10, 2016.
Meanwhile, some of the campaign team are scrambling to work out what went wrong, with Don Jr’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle also drawing flack, reports .
Guilfoyle ran the campaign’s fundraising operation, but Trump was outpaced by Biden in the final weeks of the campaign.
The campaign struggled to stay on the airwaves as coffers ran dry, despite the President’s aggressive push with a marathon tour of large scale rallies.
Trump aides blasted her operation as “underperforming” and a “HR nightmare” – describing her as having a “lack of professionalism”.
Others in the administration have however stepped up to defend Kushner, suggesting without him that the result would have been much worse.
“The expectation was the campaign would beaten by a large margin and, thanks to the infrastructure Jared set up, it came down to a few thousand votes in a few states,” an official told .
Despite his family sticking by him, political allies and White House officials have pressed Trump to change his tone and commit to a smooth transition, reports AP.
Republican critics have also called on Trump to stand aside and respect the election result.
2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Trump was within his rights to request recounts and call for investigation – but added it is “wrong to say the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen”.
He blasted Trump’s claim for damaging “the cause of freedom here and around the world … and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions”.
They have emphasized to him that history will be a harsh judge of any action he takes that is seen as undermining his successor.
And they have advised him to deliver a speech in the coming week pledging to support the transition.
Some sources suggested Trump is expected to launch a new “media empire” in the coming years after losing the election.
He also reportedly intends to keep the door open to a possible 2024 comeback as he would be only a year older then than Biden is now.
Biden, 77, gave a triumphant speech as he reached out to Trump voters by saying it was “time to listen to each other again” and “give each other a chance”.
At a rally in his home town in Delaware, Biden said: “I pledge to be a president who does not seek to divide, but unify. Who doesn’t see red states and blue states, but United States.”
In a veiled attack on Trump, he urged Americans to reject “demonization” and let the country’s “better angels” prevail.
Biden continued: “I sought this office to restore the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation – the middle class – and to make America respected around the world again and to unite us here at home.”