Marco Rubio Peddles New Big Lie About Democrats Accepting Election Results

There is no rock bottom when you’re running for Trump’s VP.

America’s free and fair elections are a hallmark of our democracy, but Republican officials and politicians now openly suggest that any election they lose is somehow rigged or stolen. Elections are only “fair” when they win. It’s all a prelude to a sloppy kiss with fascism.

This anti-democratic position is so indefensible that Republicans have sunk to claiming that “Democrats did it first,” which is a lie. Sen. Marco Rubio released a video this week that supposedly details every instance over the past 24 years when Democrats refused to accept election results. Rubio is obviously angling for a vice presidential nod or maybe even just a set of steak knives. His dignity is reduced for quick sale.

---

---

Watch below (if you must):

Rubio posted on social media, “When will the media start asking democrats if they will accept the outcome of the 2024 election if Trump wins?” (He doesn’t bother capitalizing “Democrats.”) Rubio is probably sore over NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker stumping him with this GED-level question that he still couldn’t answer. Of course, the media doesn’t need to ask Democrats if they’ll accept the outcome of a free and fair election that they lost because they have a documented history of doing so. It’s like asking Woody Allen if his next movie will contain pre-bop jazz music.

Rubio’s argument, which is likely coordinated GOP spin, conflates accepting election results with approving of them. Yes, Democrats were damn mad when the Supreme Court gift-wrapped the presidency in a sleazy bow for George W. Bush. We thought it was more than a little treasonous that Donald Trump openly solicited Russian assistance in his campaign against Hillary Clinton, which Vladimir Putin eagerly provided. Democrats will often point out, because it’s true, that Bush and Trump both lost the popular vote but we accept that the Electoral College exists. We just don’t like it.

Republicans are free to whine about mail voting and minority suffrage, but they can’t reject the legal results of an election. Trump doesn’t even acknowledge that he lost the popular vote in 2020 or 2016. When former Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Christopher Krebs declared that the 2020 election “was the most secure in American history,” Trump promptly fired him and proclaimed without evidence “that there were massive improprieties and fraud — including dead people voting, Poll Watchers not allowed into polling locations, ‘glitches’ in the voting machines which changed votes from Trump to Biden, late voting, and many more.” This is all delusional nonsense. The Left’s tin-foil hat wearers have never had access to the nuclear codes. They just teach yoga.

There are liberals who believe Al Gore rightly won Florida, but that’s supported by actual data. Gore doesn’t claim that he also won South Carolina — no less absurd as Trump’s repeated claims that he won Minnesota, the one state so Democratic it went with Walter Mondale over Ronald Reagan in 1984. Gore’s Florida challenge was based in good faith. He wasn’t trying to steal the election at any cost. Gore didn’t even need all of Florida’s electoral votes. New Hampshire’s four EVs would’ve been enough for Gore to win the presidency, but Clinton and Gore didn’t ask that Democratic Gov. Jeanne Shaheen help overturn Bush’s win based on fantasy land fraud claims.

Democrats concede races they lose

A corrupt Supreme Court decision and a Byzantine ballot design cost Gore the presidency, but he still conceded the election the day after it was clear he no longer had any legal path to victory.

Gore congratulated Bush and even made a joke about how he wouldn’t withdraw his concession for a second time. He offered to meet with Bush so that “we can start to heal the divisions of the campaign and the contest through which we just passed.”

“I also accept my responsibility,” he said, “which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new president elect and do everything possible to help him bring Americans together in fulfillment of the great vision that our Declaration of Independence defines and that our Constitution affirms and defends.”

Trump pressured then-Vice President Mike Pence to illegally reject Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory. However, Gore was the sitting vice president on January 6, 2001, and he nonetheless certified his own defeat. He even gaveled down the few objections from Democrats.

Clinton hosted Bush at the White House just days after Gore conceded, maintaining a tradition that Trump peevishly obliterated. Republicans have described Trump’s half-assed remarks on January 7, 2021 as a “concession,” but he never congratulated Biden or his supporters. He didn’t invite Biden to the White House and he didn’t attend the new president’s inauguration.

Steve Cortes, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said at the time, “We cannot pretend that Biden won legitimately, but we must also acknowledge the present reality and move forward.” Trump remained disconnected from reality and continued promoting the Big Lie.

The power of the concession speech

Hillary Clinton conceded to Trump the day after his narrow victory. She didn’t challenge the results on baseless grounds nor did she lean on Democratic election officials to overturn Trump’s victory. She attended Trump’s inauguration when she could’ve just stayed at home.

Barack Obama graciously hosted Trump at the White House, despite Trump having pushed the racist “Birther” conspiracy. He never blocked and sabotaged the peaceful transfer of power. Republicans complained about a photo of White House staffers looking devastated during Trump’s visit. No, they weren’t happy that he’d won, but they weren’t spending their final days in office plotting a coup. There was no violence on January 6, 2017 or 2005 or 2001.

After the Capitol attack, a furious Liz Cheney said, “President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack.” That flame was arguably lit when he refused to concede the election. This is a key part of the democratic process, but Trump is too selfish, vain, and malicious for such a public display of humility.

The concession speech is the most difficult one to give after the election. The losing candidate must acknowledge the disappointment of their supporters while also congratulating their opponent on a well-earned victory. Most importantly, the candidate must accept that the American people collectively made this choice and everyone should honor it. That’s the American compact.

In 2008, John McCain said, “The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly.” He urged his supporters against bitterness and accepted full responsibility for his campaign’s loss.

“Sen. Obama and I have had and argued our differences, and he has prevailed. No doubt many of those differences remain. These are difficult times for our country, and I pledge to him tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.

I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our goodwill and earnest effort to find ways to come together, to find the necessary compromises, to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.”

When Mitt Romney accepted defeat in 2012, he also said, “I so wish — I so wish that I had been able to fulfill your hopes to lead the country in a different direction, but the nation chose another leader. And so Ann and I join with you to earnestly pray for him and for this great nation.”

Richard Nixon wished John F. Kennedy well during his 1960 concession speech, and he calmed a disappointed crowd that shouted, “No! We want Nixon! We want Nixon!” (Yes, such people existed.)

“I want to say that one of the great features of America is that we have political contests,” Nixon said. “That they are very hard fought, as this one was hard fought, and once the decision is made we unite behind the man who is elected.”

These are powerful speeches. Few are brilliant examples of oratory — no Saint Crispin’s or Gettysburg among them. Their true power is how they subdue anger rather than fuel it. They reinforce the validity of American elections and the unity of the American people. Normally, presidential candidates lose to someone with at least one or two decent human traits. There’s a tragic irony that Hillary Clinton, the first woman at the top of a major party ticket, had to concede defeat to objectively the worst person who ever drew breath on this earth. Nonetheless, she put her country first.

“Last night, I congratulated Donald Trump and offered to work with him on behalf of our country. I hope that he will be a successful president for all Americans. This is not the outcome we wanted or we worked so hard for and I’m sorry that we did not win this election for the values we share and the vision we hold for our country.”

Trump could never express these sentiments. He could never congratulate another candidate nor could he accept responsibility for his loss. We’ll probably never fully understand why Trump is so small, but instead of realizing that such an emotionally damaged creature is unfit to serve, Trump’s enablers can only rewrite history and attempt to drag Democrats and Republicans alike into the mud with their leader.

If Trump loses again, his words and deeds after the election will only serve to spread lies and spark more violence. Maybe Marco Rubio’s false moral equivalencies will help him sleep at night, but I hope not.

Follow Stephen Robinson on Bluesky and Threads.

Subscribe to his YouTube channel for more fun content.