The Real Reason Why Senate Republicans Won’t Admit a Trump Defeat

Mitch McConnell has Georgia on his mind

We all knew this breakup was going to be an ugly one. Like an abusive boyfriend who won’t give up, Trump refuses to see the writing on the wall. He had been warning us of this inevitability for months. The only election outcome he would accept was one that said he was the winner.

And now it has happened. He has lost. And true to his word, he’s not planning a graceful exit. He’s going out kicking, screaming, and all-caps tweeting all the way, as he drags his followers, and the rest of America along with him, in his desperate last attempts at a final grab for power.

It makes no difference that there is no evidence of voter fraud. President-Elect Joe Biden has done exactly what he needed to. He won decisively. If this had been the usual election, and the returns had all come in together on election night, we wouldn’t be arguing about it. But, because we’re in a pandemic, many people voted legally and safely by mail.

And this is what did it. The difference in the order of how the states counted the ballots caused the back and forth of tipping from red to blue. And this is where Trump found his opportunity to create confusion and sow the seeds of doubt about the validity of the election. It’s the mail-in ballots, the ballots that don’t favor Trump, that has become his point of contention.

It’s not surprising he's acting like a toddler that doesn’t want to leave the playground for naptime.

He’s the same Trump he’s always been, that’s no surprise. What is surprising is the actions of the rest of the government. The surprise comes from the Senate Republicans that are refusing to publicly accept Biden as the winner. They are continuing with this rhetoric of election fraud, although there is no evidence. Indeed, there is not the slightest bit of evidence, to suggest any of these allegations could overturn the election results.

They are busily citing Bush v. Gore in the 2000 election. But, this isn’t the year 2000. This election is entirely different. Biden’s win is not dependant on hundreds of votes in the state of Florida, with their hanging chads.

Biden’s win has been decided by tens of thousands of votes in multiple states. A recount is not going to change the outcome when the difference is tens of thousands of votes.

Not to mention, Biden’s lead in the popular vote is nearly 5 million and growing as the votes continue to be counted.

So why then must we go through this? Why won’t Republican senators congratulate Biden and move on? There is a one-word answer to this question. And the answer is…Georgia.

Why Georgia Matters

The two Senate election results in Georgia are so close they have come down to a runoff vote. This vote is how Georgia does it and this is what determines the balance of power in the Senate. If the Democrats pick up two more seats, the Senate will be tied, 50–50. And Vice President-Elect, Kamala Harris will be the tiebreaker.

Mitch McConnell knows Biden has won. He also knows the excitement that Trump drums up in his followers is what is needed to win the two Senate seats in Georgia.

Admitting defeat and moving on is not exciting. The Trump base doesn't care that Republicans performed quite well in this election. They picked up seats in the House. They held onto Senate seats that would have cost them their Senate advantage.

But none of that matters much to the always-Trumpers. No, Trump supporters aren't going to get excited by a Senate runoff in Georgia. However, they are very worked up over Trump’s false voter fraud cries. They are frothing at the bit over his promise to continue the fight.

Look, we all know losing is not fun. Losing stings. As long as the Trumpers hold a shred of hope, they’ll keep his base excited and the Republicans hope this means they will get the votes they need in Georgia to hold onto their Senate advantage. Of course, the other side to this is that most likely both sides will get high voter turnout, a rarity in a runoff election. And at this point, who will win is anyone’s guess.

So this fight over Senate control is why we must endure two more months of this nonsense. Republicans aren’t going to concede. And with them backing Trump, he will continue his flailing march towards the inevitable.

Oh, and there is the issue of the debt his campaign has amassed. The Republican National Committee is calling for donations for Trump’s legal fight. But 60% of those donations are going to cover the previous debt. Paying off debt to a loser is not much fun. But wrap it all up in an exciting fight-for-the-vote package, and they can rake in the money.

Trump Fights for Trump

Trump’s motivation to keep going has nothing to do with the Georgia Senate race. I doubt the campaign debt means much to him either. He’s used to being in debt, after all. No, Trump has little interest in anything that doesn’t involve him. He’s keeping this going for the slight chance he may pull this one off the way he has done in the past.

He knows it's a long shot. Mainly what he wants is to keep all attention on him. He wants to cast doubt on the election results. He wants this so that for the rest of his days, he can scream about the unfairness of the 2020 election. He and his followers can lament for years on how they were all robbed of another four years of his presidency.

We’re in for a rough ride until January 20th. But we will get there. Hang on and be patient. We did what we had to. We voted. We only have a little bit longer of this nightmare before we can look at it all from the rearview mirror.

Because the truth is, whether you voted in person or by mail, your vote counts. They can’t take it away from you.

And if you live in Georgia, be sure you vote on January 5th. The stakes are high on this one.