Trump says will leave White House, but under one condition

 

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would concede if the Electoral College elected President-elect Joe Biden, and would leave the White House. But he vowed to continue pursuing poll fraud allegations until then, undeterred by the dismal impact of his lawsuits and challenges.

“Certainly, I will, and you know that,” Trump said when asked by reporters if he will leave the White House, which has become a concern as he has refused to acknowledge the outcome despite losing to Biden by a wide margin of 306-232 in Electoral College votes, and by over 5 million popular votes.

Trump has not conceded yet. But he told reporters after the traditional Thanksgiving messages to US armed forces that he will if the Electoral College elected Biden.

“It’s going to be a very hard thing to concede,” he said, adding, “If they do, they made a mistake.”

Americans don’t vote to directly elect their president. They choose electors instead, who are granted to the presidential nominee that wins the popular vote in that state in a winner-takes-all system, except in two states.

Most election cycles, this would have been a pro forma next step — on the second Monday after the second Wednesday in December, electors endorse the nominee projected to win. Trump is trying to subvert the process and use this stage to further delay the inevitable.

The electors will meet in their respective states on December 8 to elect the president. And on the basis of the current projected count — pending complete certification of results by all states — Biden will win 306 of the 528 total votes, to Trump’s 232. Trump had won the 2016 election with the same count and had bragged of it as a landslide. At loser’s end now, Trump is crying foul, with declining purchase even among Republicans.