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HOW DO REPUBLICANS SEE TRUMP REFUSAL TO CONCEDE? It’s been 15 days since the presidential election, and 11 days since major news organizations declared Joe Biden the winner. President Trump has not conceded and continues to press challenges to the results in states that he won in 2016 but have been called for Biden this time — Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin.
How do Republicans on Capitol Hill view the situation? It’s impossible to generalize for the roughly 250 GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate. What follows is not from a broad survey — it’s from conversations with just two of them, one senator and one representative, who are well-connected with fellow Republicans in both houses, well-connected in the administration, and well-connected with their state parties. The bottom line: They’re not particularly concerned that Trump has not conceded. They don’t mind him pursuing legal remedies, even if those remedies have no chance of changing the election results. And they’re not bothered that Trump has not provided for a smooth, gracious transition of power. But they are worried about the two runoff races in Georgia that will determine whether Republicans control the Senate for the next two years — a critical check on the incoming Biden administration.
On Trump’s legal challenges, the senator saw Trump as fighting not because he strongly believes he can overtake Biden but because he feels the need to fight hard for the 73 million Americans who voted for him. That is important to Trump, the senator believes, to contrast himself with previous Republican candidates — Mitt Romney and John McCain — who disappointed GOP voters. Trump, the senator said, is determined to run the race to the finish line in every single state where he trails by small margins.
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On the House side, the representative described a situation in which a significant number of House GOP lawmakers — he said he had talked to between 30 and 40 — believe that some sort of voter fraud occurred. They look at Republicans coming remarkably close to winning the House in an election in which they were predicted to lose seats. They look at a House race like the 23rd District in Texas, which Democrats targeted after the retirement of Republican Rep. Will Hurd. It was often cited as a big potential pickup for Democrats, but the GOP candidate, Tony Gonzales, won. So they ask how Republicans could outperform expectations and Trump lose. And they strongly believe that activists in the Democratic Party and on the left did something to manipulate, to hack the results in key states. But at the same time, the representative described that belief as a gut feeling and acknowledged they don’t have the evidence to back it up.
So they support Trump’s continued challenges in the hope that the evidence might emerge. To have a chance, the representative explained, Trump has to move beyond citing small examples of individual irregularities and discover the bigger vote manipulation behind it all. It’s fine to talk about dead people voting, but that’s not the big thing, they believe. They acknowledge that the evidence might never be found — that Trump has, in fact, lost — but while the search goes on, they have absolutely no problem with the president not conceding. On that, Trump is on firm ground with a lot of Republicans.
Trump also has support on the transition question. The senator discounted reports of the Biden team not receiving intelligence briefings. It’s not a big deal, he said. Nor is any other lack of cooperation in the transition so far. Look at the last transition, he said, the transition from Obama to Trump. There was a pretense of a smooth transition, but at the same time the outgoing Obama team sicced U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies on the incoming Trump administration. They tried to sabotage the new president even as they pretended to conduct a gracious transition. So now, the senator said, using a common vulgar expression, the Democrats can stick their desire for a gracious transition in a place where the sun don’t shine.
But then there is Georgia. Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are both facing runoff elections in a state it appears Trump has very narrowly lost. If Republicans win just one of the two races, they will control the Senate. If they win both, they’ll be stronger. But if Democrats win both seats, the Senate will be divided 50-50, with a Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties in the Democrats’ favor. So for Republicans right now, after Trump’s loss, nothing could be more important.
Both lawmakers see Georgia as the whole ball game, and both are personally working on the GOP’s behalf in those races. Both are sending staff to work for Perdue and Loeffler. And both want Trump to push hard for GOP victories. They were heartened on Monday when Trump tweeted, “I strongly stand with Kelly & David. They are both great and MUST WIN!”
But they see the dangers in Georgia, with Republicans bitterly divided over Trump’s claim that he will ultimately win the state. And it is extremely close — Biden appears to have won by about 13,000 votes out of about five million votes cast. That lead shrank a bit with the discovery of previously-uncounted votes in the last 24 hours. But the counting is almost finished, and the senator said he expected the result — a Biden victory — to be certified this week. When that happens, he hopes Trump will eventually go all-in for Perdue and Loeffler.
Republicans from Mitch McConnell down are telling Trump he has the opportunity to leave the Republican Party in a stronger position in Washington than any GOP president since Ronald Reagan. George W. Bush left Washington with Democrats in control of the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. So did George H.W. Bush. Trump has the chance to leave with Republicans in control of the Senate. A GOP Senate can stop Biden’s legislative agenda cold.
In more blunt terms, helping Republicans win the Senate would be the best way for Trump to stick it to Biden, to stick it to Chuck Schumer, to stick it to Nancy Pelosi, to get some measure of payback, and to walk away from Washington with Republicans having real power to preserve some of Trump’s accomplishments. If Trump will work for Perdue and Loeffler victories, it will add one final accomplishment to an already impressive list of things Trump got done in a single term. The GOP’s future for the next few years could depend on Trump’s embrace of that view.
