Trump and close aides may still hope for a turnaround but for White House's inner circle, the race is over
President Donald Trump and some of his closest aides might still harbor the hope of turning things around against President-elect Joe Biden but most people close to the president’s quarters are convinced that the race is over. However, it has remained a herculean task for those people to talk to the incumbent to concede, Axios has reported.
Trump has made it clear that he has no plan to concede and has not prepared a concession speech even. He has been alleging that the election this year has been stolen and even accused the media of trying to interfere into the proceedings and have a say on the next president. He has also moved the court to turn the tables around.
The 74-year-old president’s long-shot legal war to change the election outcome which has gone in favor of Biden has also been backed by his active supporters. Trump’s senior advisers and adult sons have escalated efforts in the courts to challenge the results and also pressured other GOP members to defend him.
Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be? We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2020
“We believe these people are thieves. The big city machines are corrupt. 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.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 8, 2020
But there are also voices in the White House who believe that Trump is waging a futile war. According to the Axios report which cited a campaign official, the incumbent’s top advisers sat with him on Saturday, November 7, and took him through the “options for success”. The official also said that they informed Trump about the likely result of waging the legal battles that he has decided but the latter was adamant that he wanted to go ahead with them.
However, one source who recently had a talk with Axios said that Trump has also talked about the possibility of losing the prestige battle. He conceded that accepting the defeat might be an outcome but yet stuck to his stance of pursuing what he believes to be a mass fraud.
While some of his close advisers like media guru Dan Scavino and personnel director Johnny McEntee are egging the president on, some are of the opinion that the game is over. “They know the court cases are dead ends, and some are already putting out job feelers,” the Axios report said.
Top officials showing little interest in transition
Things are also in a chaotic shape behind the scenes. Chris Liddell, the president’s deputy chief of staff for policy coordination, has been working on the transition procedures for the past many weeks but currently, according to an informed source, “everything is frozen” and nothing is being done.
Also, Emily Murphy, the administrator of the General Services Administration, has reportedly refused to sign the transition papers that are required to provide the incoming team access to government officials and office space and also transfer millions of dollars to officials of the new commander-in-chief.
The Axios also cited one White House official who called the prevailing situation chaotic and spoke about the growing frustration and anxiety among the lower-level aides who are fearing loss of jobs.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who predicted a landslide victory for Trump, however, tried to show that everything was perfectly fine. She said she spoke with many younger West Wing staffers and could find that they fully backed Trump and his supporters.