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Pons:

Thank you, anchor. 

 

As you may know, President Donald Trump has yet to acknowledge the results of the 2020 US election. Almost all of the major news sources in the United States have stated that Biden has won, including Fox News, but the president still has not publicly said that Joe Biden was the winner of the election. With a 306 - 232 electoral vote victory, it seems that Biden is clearly victorious. By December 14, the electors nominated from each state to represent their state’s majority will have voted. That will be the end of things. Even Donald Trump said in 2016 that a 306-232 result is a “landslide victory.” So why is he in denial?

 

 

Well, I think that a part of this is the fact that there are still two runoff races for the Senate in Georgia. Now, Georgia is leaning towards a Republican win, mostly because of the large number of white men (they tend to go Republican) and the lesser amount of people of colour (they tend to go democratic). If he can keep his voter base and get them rallied up to vote, the turnout might be enough to get the two Republican Senators the win, causing a 52-48 Senate for the Republicans. This is especially important, as a GOP(Republican)-Controlled Senate would prove challenging for the Democrats to overcome.

 

One big thing about the United States government is that it’s not just the president in power. There are 3 branches of the government, each with checks and balances in place. The president is a part of the executive branch, but just because it’s called executive doesn’t mean they get all the power. A lot of big decisions are made by the Senate, one of the two sections of Congress (the legislative branch). (the other is the House.) Judge appointments to the Supreme court of the United States, the judicial branch (Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch were all appointed by Trump and confirmed by the Senate), the heads of the executive departments, and a lot of big government positions are decided by the Senate majority. Although the house has the power of the money, the Senate’s support is required for amendments to the constitution and the passing of bills. There have been multiple times in the past where there have been deadlocks in the government, with the president or house creating bills but the senate just not letting anything through. Although the president can pass bills through executive orders, it’s really limited as to how often they can. Although the house has the power to the money, they can’t pass any bills without the Senate’s support. All in all, the Senate is really important.

 

 

Another reason that I think is why Donald Trump isn’t conceding is the fact that there are multiple crimes he could potentially be convicted of if his immunity from being the president is stripped from him. As the president’s ability to pardon himself from crimes has not been tested in court, this is still something that Trump is probably unsure about. And all these lawsuits he’s filed, all these public appearances without a hint of concession; I think this is him trying to protect himself. He’s been impeached already; In 2019, the House of Representatives convicted him of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. (Trying to force Ukraine into revealing info about Joe Biden’s son) So what’s going to happen to him once he leaves office? I think he knows. Allegations of tax evasion (He only paid 750 dollars in income taxes during one year), corruption, misinformation-spreading, partisan coercion, will likely fly in at incredible speeds. And without all that power in his hands, without the protection that the presidential position gives him, he will likely not be able to get through them.

 

But is it ethical to be delaying this concession? There is nothing in the law that requires a concession from the loser, but it’s still an important part of American democracy. There are still 74 million people who voted for Trump! If all those people believe the election was rigged, as Donald Trump keeps on tweeting about, then that’s almost half of the United States population that doesn’t agree with Joe Biden. What could happen? Riots, civil wars, plans to overthrow the current government, are all worst-case scenarios. An important part of democracy is the acceptance of the defeated candidate. So if that doesn’t happen, what will happen to U.S. democracy?