Everyone knows Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Well, everyone except Trump and many of his GOP supporters, who still reject the results in Georgia and other swing states from the last election.
But while most elected Republicans know Trump lost, they don’t like to say that out loud — worried not only about angering the MAGA base of voters, but most importantly, angering You-Know-Who.
And this week’s vice presidential debate laid that bare once again. For many Republicans, this is like the Lord Voldemort of politics — it’s the answer that must not be given.
When the debate between Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio finally reached the matter of the Jan. 6 riots and Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election, Vance faced the moment of truth on the debate stage.
He could just breezily admit what everyone knows — that Trump lost — or Vance could sidestep and talk about something else.
He chose that second option, once when directly asked by Walz whether Trump lost the last election.
“Tim, I’m focused on the future,” Vance said, immediately trying to turn to controversies related to the coronavirus that had nothing to do with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol or Trump’s never-ending lies about election fraud in 2020.
It was immediately apparent that Vance wasn’t going to deliver a direct answer — not with You-Know-Who watching on TV. Trump makes evidence-free claims that Democrats are cheating in 2024 on almost a daily basis.
It shouldn’t be a big deal to publicly admit that Trump lost. Dozens of GOP legal challenges failed. No judge ever gave Trump any hope the results would be overturned.
It wasn’t like Trump took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost a Bush v. Gore 5-4 decision.
“The U.S. Supreme Court has spoken,” then-Vice President Al Gore told the nation in 2000 after that ruling. “Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it.”
Trump could have said that. But he didn’t. He was such a sore loser that he didn’t attend Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Elections are like golf matches. Once the last putt is made or missed, you shake hands and say congratulations.
It’s easy when you win. It stings when you lose.
“Democracy is bigger than winning an election,” Walz said. “We need to shake hands, this election, and the winner needs to be the winner.”
But as JD Vance knew, when it comes to Donald Trump, there can only be one winner. Admitting defeat is the answer that cannot be given.
Jamie Dupree has covered national politics and Congress from Washington, D.C., since the Reagan administration. His column appears weekly in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. For more, check out his Capitol Hill newsletter at jamiedupree.substack.com
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