In a fiery speech on Wednesday before thousands of supporters packed onto the National Mall, President Donald Trump vowed to “never give up” and “never concede.”
With the White House as a backdrop, Trump declared, “Our country has had enough.”
“I want to thank you, it’s just a great honor to have this kind of crowd and to be before you and hundreds of thousands of American patriots who are committed to the honesty of our elections and the integrity of our glorious Republic,” said Trump.
Claiming that the “emboldened radical left Democrats” and the media have conspired against him, Trump declared, “We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede. Our country is had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that’s what this is all about.”
Trump said he lost the 2020 election because of an “explosion of bulls***.” The crowd responded by chanting, “Bulls***!”
“Everybody knows that the election, our election was over at 10 o’clock in the evening, when we were leading Pennsylvania, Michigan and Georgia by hundreds of thousands of votes. And then, late in the evening or early in the morning, boom, this explosion of bulls***. And all of a sudden, all of a sudden it started to happen,” he said, referencing the remaining votes counted over the next few days, including many mail-in ballots that heavily favored Joe Biden in key states. While Republicans generally emphasized voting in person, Democrats widely encouraged voting by mail.
Trump’s legal team alleges that the election was tainted by widespread voting irregularities and fraud but have been unable to prove their claims in court. Election officials in key states and the Justice Department have said they have not found evidence of widespread fraud that would have changed the results of the election.
“Almost 75 million people voted for our campaign the most of any incumbent president, by far in the history of our country, 12 million more people than four years ago. Does anybody believe that Joe [Biden] had 80 million votes? Does anybody believe that?” said Trump. Official vote totals gave Biden a 7-million vote victory over Trump in the popular vote, 81.3 million compared to 74.2 million.
The president again sought to put pressure on Vice President Mike Pence, telling the thousands of supporters that stretched back to the Washington Mall that Pence should send Electoral College votes back to the states to be recertified.
“All Mike Pence has to do is send it back to the states,” Trump said. “Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us, and if he doesn’t, it’s a sad day for our country.”
“I hope Mike is going do the right thing,” Trump said. “If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. He has the absolute right to do it.”
On Wednesday, Pence announced that he will not block the certification process, stating that he believes “vesting the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide presidential contests” would be “entirely antithetical” to the “separation of powers and checks and balances under the Constitution of the United States.” While he said that he believes that his constitutional oath constrains him from such an action, he “welcome[s] the efforts of Senate and House members who have stepped forward to use their authority under the law to raise objections and present evidence.”
In his speech, Trump also repeatedly blamed the media for the outcome of the presidential election. “Our media is not free. It’s not fair. It suppresses thought. It suppresses speech. It’s become the enemy of the people,” Trump said. “It’s the biggest problem we have in this country.”
Trump additionally slammed Republicans in the Senate for their failure to pass $2,000 in COVID-19 relief for Americans, saying that was “one of the primary reasons” that both Georgia Senate candidates lost on Tuesday.