President Trump’s cryptic remarks on Friday raised the question of whether he is open to the possibility of conceding the race to Joe Biden, despite evidence of voter fraud that might have swung the election in the Democrat’s favor.
In a late Friday afternoon news briefing about the coronavirus, the president vowed that there will be no new lockdowns under “this administration,” but he added that only “time will tell” who will occupy the Oval Office in January.
“I will not go—this administration will not be going to a lockdown. Hopefully the, the uh, whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be, I guess time will tell,” President Trump said as he gave an update about Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership initiated by the administration to develop and distribute COVID-19 vaccines.
The president has not conceded the election, holding firm at a time when the media has overwhelmingly declared Joe Biden to be president-elect. The race is far from over, however, as the Trump team is launching lawsuits in key swing states where statistical anomalies, glitches with voting machines, and other suspect circumstances have given ground to accusations of voter fraud.
Furthermore, not only have the election results not been certified in any states as of yet; the Electoral College will not formally select the president-elect until December 14.
In general, President Trump has been vocal on social media about the fraud issue and the media’s role in trying to convince Americans that Biden is the true winner of the race.
The president said that the COVID-19 vaccine being manufactured by multinational pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer would be approved “very much ahead of schedule” after they announced Monday that their vaccine candidate was 90-percent effective against Covid-19 in phase 3 trials, and they planned to submit it for Emergency Use Authorization in the third week of November.
“If you had a different administration, what we’ve done would’ve taken three, four, five years. It would’ve been in the FDA forever,” President Trump said, adding that the COVID-19 vaccine would be approved “five times faster” than the fastest vaccine ever developed. He also stated that the Pfizer vaccine would be offered “free of charge,” first to frontline workers and the elderly and then to the general public.
Touting America’s economic recovery, the president added: “The U.S. experienced the smallest economic contraction and most rapid economic recovery of any Western nation, while healthy Americans have gone back to work and schools. We continue to spare no expense to protect the vulnerable.”
If Joe Biden becomes president, Americans can expect vaccines to be mandatory, at least for participation in school and other aspects of society.
USA Today reports about the former vice president’s stance on mandatory vaccines:
Biden has said if elected he would listen to the advice of experts and public health professionals and that a vaccine mandate would be based on its efficacy….
He added that mandating its use would depend on what kind of positive impact it would have, and “the state of the nature of the vaccine when it comes out and how it’s being distributed.”
Biden has also signaled that he would make all Americans wear a mask in public. And one of his coronavirus advisors told CNBC that “targeted” lockdowns are on the table if the Democrat gets into the White House.
But to be able to implement any of this, Biden is first going to have to actually win the presidency. For the moment, the race remains a toss-up as events unfold.
Georgia is currently in the middle of a recount and audit. In Pennsylvania, the president scored a win on Thursday when a state court ruled that election officials could not count a segment of ballots from individuals who failed to provide the proper identification as Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State lacked the authority to extend that deadline in the first place.
On Friday, however, the law firm representing the Trump campaign’s legal battle in Pennsylvania pulled out of the suit after the Lincoln Project, a group run by anti-Trump Republican insiders, intimidated the firm’s attorneys, posting their contact information on Twitter.
