By Grace Hwang
On November 7, Joe Biden officially became the 46th President-Elect, but President Trump has yet to concede and has already filed numerous lawsuits against several states, including the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Arizona, and Georgia. Despite many of these cases being dropped already, Trump has continued with his steady barrage of false claims of a “rigged election”, taking to Twitter to declare that “I WON THE ELECTION. VOTER FRAUD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY!”, and the General Service Administration (GSA), the organization in charge of allowing the presidential transition to begin, has yet to declare Biden as the winner of this election.
This refusal to admit defeat is not just, in the words of President-Elect Biden, “totally irresponsible”; it has negative ramifications for the entire country, especially as the U.S. heads into a dark winter with a staggering second wave of coronavirus cases and a rapidly rising death toll. Trump has repeatedly denied Biden access to his briefings with government officials in charge of the coronavirus vaccine distribution and has prevented his successor from obtaining essential data regarding COVID-19, wasting precious time that could be used to save tens of thousands more American lives and help mitigate the spread of this highly contagious disease.
Delayed transitions can also impact national security, as was the case prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The delays George W. Bush experienced during his transition before taking office in 2001 led to a delay in the formation of his national security team, contributing to the devastating terror attacks. During these unprecedented times, it is imperative for Biden to have a team available to address national security right away, so Trump and the GSA’s resistance to acknowledge his loss is most likely endangering the security of the United States.
It is evident from countless investigations that there has been no widespread voter fraud, and in the words of the Trump administration’s former senior cybersecurity official, Christopher Krebs (who has since been fired), the election of 2020 was “the most secure in American history”. However, Trump has been latching on to anything that might extend his time at the White House for another term and has made it clear that it will be a while before he backs down, if ever. Although many of the current president’s supporters are holding onto hope based on the president’s claims, this behavior is quite harmful to the country on several fronts.
