As the only obstacle
As the only obstacle between President-elect Joe Biden and the formal start of the presidential transition, General Services Administrator Emily Murphy is struggling with the weight of the presidential election being dropped on her shoulders, feeling like she’s been put in a no-win situation, according to people who have spoken to her recently.
This was never a position that Murphy thought she would find herself in, the people said. But as the government official in charge of signing off on the election result, President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election has thrown Murphy into the middle of a political firestorm.
Facing mounting pressure from both sides, and even death threats, the sources say Murphy is working to interpret vague agency guidelines and follow what she sees as precedent to wait to sign off on the election result, a process known as “ascertainment” that would allow the official presidential transition to begin.
Jeez. The people who wrote this don’t know how to keep their subjects and verbs connected. Let’s try that again. “But as the government official in charge of signing off on the election result, Murphy feels that President Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the election has thrown her into the middle of a political firestorm.” Clunky but at least coherent. “Facing mounting pressure from both sides and even death threats, the sources say, Murphy is working to interpret vague agency guidelines…” Just one little comma added and one subtracted, there, to make sense of it. Journalists should be able to do this on their own.
Anyway…so the point is that this is new territory because Trump has refused to concede. But in another way that’s not new territory at all, because Trump is a lying cheating thieving criminal, and his refusal to concede is simply a criminal’s attempt to commit more crimes far into the future. Or to put it another way –
Still, Murphy’s stalled sign-off is one of the more confounding decisions made since the election, since it’s clear Biden won and Trump’s legal challenges won’t change the outcome. Biden’s team has warned the delay has real-world consequences to national security and their Covid-19 response.
It’s clear that Biden won. Trump is just blowing smoke. Trump is trying to steal the election, and whether she intends to or not, Murphy is currently helping him, and she should stop doing that.
Sources close to Murphy describe her as a technocrat and policy wonk, with a lengthy career as a congressional aide and at GSA. It’s not clear what specific actions Murphy is waiting on before granting ascertainment. Sources tell CNN she is basing her decision on what she sees as the precedent set by the 2000 election, where there was not a clear winner for more than a month.
But this is not like that, on account of how there is a clear winner.
“My experiences with Emily have led me to believe she is an ethical and moral person, but I strongly disagree with her current decision not to ascertain the election,” said a former administration official and colleague of Murphy’s who had spoken to her in recent days. “I think she’s absolutely making the wrong decision. President-elect Biden clearly won. And there really is no question about that… It is wrong to delay, even by another minute, the signing of the ascertainment.”
And so the rot continues.
Besides, refusal to concede isn’t reason not to ascertain. Concession is a courtesy; it isn’t required to determine who won the election. Biden won whether or not Trump ever concedes. If that wasn’t the case, then any candidate could declare themselves winner by simply refusing to concede. So she can ascertain the election without his concession, and in the face of overwhelming evidence that Biden won fairly and legally, this is just more hand-wringing of the sort that led us into the situation of having a Trump presidency in the first place…people not being willing to say “Donald, you did not win this election” or “Donald, get out of the White House in time for the Biden’s to move in” or “Donald, you are not a stable genius, and you are not president after January 20”.
I would guess that no one in his entire life has ever said “Donald, you lost. Get over it”. People have always been willing to change the rules so he can come out winner. Now there are some GOP members trying once again to change the rules…just like they changed the rules for Merrick Garland, and changed them back for Amy Coney Barret.
Oh I think plenty of people have said that or the equivalent to him. They don’t get to sit at his table, but they exist. (Fortunately, they of course don’t want to sit at his table.)
Plenty of people have said no, but there has always been an army of sycophants behind him pandering to his ego and telling him that of course he can.
What Trump has accomplished is to have the Republican party grant him a retraining order against his successor. In essence he has gotten a retraining order against the USA. No critical business of governance can proceed until his childish pique runs its course. I’m sure he’s done it before in some of his nefarious business deals – freeze some action pending litigation or appeal. But this is a country facing real problems and real enemies who are not deterred. He is undermining our standing in the world, our very security, and respect for the rule of law. What’s that definition of sedition again?
Pliny, did you mean ‘restraining’ order?
AOS: Yes I did. Unfortunately I type for crap and proof read ever worse
Maybe waiting for the states to certify results?
That’s OK, Pliny, Trump is trying to retrain the US.
maddog, as I understand it there are no legal or constitutional reasons for Murphy to delay signing-off any longer, which only leaves either loyalty to or fear of the boss. As she’s a Trump appointee, and given that Trump is on a mad spree of firing and trashing his appointees who have displeased him – not to mention the associated potential threat of hyped-up Trump supporters taking it on themselves to punish disloyalty – it’s likely that she’s afraid of the repurcussions if she effectively concedes* on his behalf, and it’s not without the realms of possibility that Trump has had a message of warning relayed to her (although his current behaviour is as effective as a specific warning, I’d have thought).
On the other hand, she may be a loyalist who is happy to help Trump in hindering the transition and delaying the finances and flow of information that Biden and his team desperately need if they are to hit the ground running on Jan. 20th.
* I’ve seen suggestions that the Trump tweet in which he stated something like “Biden won because the election was rigged” (and which he later back-tracked with another tweet naming himself as the winner) could technically be classed as his concession owing to the admission that “Biden won”. It’s a pity that nobody from Biden’s team seems willing to at least test the idea.