Donald Trump Says He Will ‘Never Concede’ Despite Authorizing Biden Transition

President Donald Trump tweeted that he will “never concede” the 2020 presidential election on Tuesday, hours after authorizing the Biden teams transition process. Under mounting pressure to stop holding up the transition, the General Services Administration ascertained the election results. Trump later took credit for this ascertainment on Twitter, then contradicted himself.

“What does GSA being allowed to preliminarily work with the Dems have to do with continuing to pursue our various cases on what will go down as the most corrupt election in American political history?” he wrote. “We are moving full speed ahead. Will never concede to fake ballots [and] ‘Dominion.’” This reference to a debunked election conspiracy theory earned Trump another warning from Twitter that his information “is disputed.” The president is not only continuing his legal challenges to the election results, but his spread of misinformation as well.

Trump went on to retweet supporters, including anonymous far-right Twitter accounts and actor Randy Quaid. Among these messages was a call for an in-person re-vote, the message “I concede NOTHING!!!!!” and more conspiracy theories. Amid these, he wrote: “Are you listening Republicans?”

So far, neither Trump, his legal team or any other investigators have turned up real evidence of mass voter fraud, election tampering or other problems in the 2020 presidential election. However, misinformation about these investigations is on the rise, with Trump playing no small part in spreading it. Political analysts are increasingly concerned about the impact all this will have on American democracy itself.

According to a Forbes report, legal scholars say there is little chance Trump’s latest call for a complete re-vote will go anywhere. There has never been a re-vote in American history, and even some Republican lawmakers who have supported Trump through his conspiracy theories are now taking this as their opportunity to step back. On Friday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told Fox News that the “standard for holding a new election is extraordinarily high.”

Meanwhile, the official start to the transition is good news for President-elect Joe Biden, who came under fire last week when his campaign asked supporters to make small-dollar donations to support an independent transition. That move outraged many, as they let Biden know on social media.

With the transition underway, the path is clear for Biden to be sworn in on inauguration day in January and for the entire process to move forward as usual. Trump’s legal challenges can still move forward, but given the severe lack of evidence to support them, chances are they will go nowhere.