Your move, Donald Trump.
In the wake of electoral college certifying Joe Biden's 306 votes on Monday, and thereby his win in this year's Presidential election, even the most ardent supporters of the current Commander-in-Chief now see the writing on the wall.
And the writing reads as follows:
JOE BIDEN WAS ELECTED PRESIDENT BY A SIGNIFICANT MARGIN IN A FREE AND FAIR ELECTION AND DONALD TRUMP IS A LYING DANGER TO DEMOCRACY.
WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH ANYONE WHO DOESN'T SEE THIS?
Or something to that effect, you know?
But it's true, even Lindsay Graham has now acknowledged that Biden has defeated Trump.
And now two more pretty close acquaintances of the one-term President have done the same:
Senator Mitch McConnell and mentor Vladimir Putin.
“Many of us hoped that the presidential election would yield a different result, but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on Jan. 20,” McConnell, the majority leader, said in a speech on the Senate floor this morning, adding:
“The Electoral College has spoken. So today, I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden.”
McConnell also congratulated Senator Kamala Harris of California, referring to her as the vice president-elect.
“Beyond our differences, all Americans can take pride that our nation has a female vice president-elect for the very first time,” McConnell said today.
Trump, of course, refuses to say anything of this nature.
He continues to rant about a stolen and rigged election, while declaring a meaningless protest over the results on Twitter.
Elsewhere, but relatedly:
While many world leaders congratulated Joe Biden within days of the election, Russia said at the time that it deemed it "correct" to wait for the official results before Putin congratulated the winner.
Now, however?
A Kremlin readout said the following on Tuesday:
"Vladimir Putin wished the President-elect every success and expressed confidence that Russia and the United States, which bear special responsibility for global security and stability, despite their differences can truly contribute to solving many problems and challenges that the world is currently facing."
This one really has to hurt Trump.
Putin is his hero.
Putin noted that "Russian-American cooperation based on the principles of equality and mutual respect would meet the interests of people in both countries as well as the entire international community."
"For my part, I am ready for cooperation and contacts with you," the Russian President concluded.
At this point, only the extreme minority of offiicials around the world and country have not recognized that Biden will be sworn in as President on January 20, 2021.
Sadly, Donald Trump is leading the pack of those in denial.
“In this battle for the soul of America, democracy prevailed,” Biden said in a public address on Monday, adding:
“We the people voted. Faith in our institutions held. The integrity of our elections remains intact.
"And now it is time to turn the page, as we’ve done throughout our history. To unite. To heal."
“President Trump was denied no course of action he wanted to take,” Biden continued, going after Trump in pointed fashion.
“He took his case to Republican governors and Republican secretaries of state . . . to Republican state legislatures, to Republican-appointed judges at every level.
"Even President Trump’s own cybersecurity chief overseeing our elections said it was the most secure election in American history.”
In the end, though, Biden concluded with a unifying message:
If anyone didn’t know it before, we know it now.
What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this: democracy. The right to be heard. To have your vote counted. To choose the leaders of this nation. To govern ourselves...
I will work just as hard for those of you who didn’t vote for me as I will for those who did