But who can even focus on the incoming Democrats? Trump’s statement contained no concession that he lost, only that his focus was changing. He offered no congratulations to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. In fact, he did not even say their names.
Those omissions will be pondered and reinterpreted by the QAnon crowd. But his statement struck many of his diehards from the Capitol as a form of abandonment and betrayal. They had spent weeks reminding themselves that he hadn’t actually conceded. They understood perfectly that he had called for them to “show strength” at Congress. What else could he have meant? Now the gambit was over. Now they understood perfectly that he was encouraging their arrest and prosecution. Probably because he had been talked into doing it. That’s pathetic. Taking him seriously or literally was a crime. Trump said so. They were suckers.
Trump declared a peaceful transition while the notices of death were still rolling in.
