I’ve had enough of Trump’s nonsense over admitting Biden won the election – we need to talk about coronavirus

The president's ego has to take a backseat to a national – indeed global – crisis

"He won" the tweet began. What was this? An acceptance from Donald Trump that Joe Biden had won the election? Something that should have come more than a week ago.

Certainly there were signs of hope. An anonymous White House official told NBC News that the tweet “may very well” represent the start of some sort of Trump concession. Asa Hutchinson the Republican governor of Arkansas speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, said: “It was good actually to see President Trump tweet out that ‘he won’. I think that’s a start of an acknowledgment."

However, no such luck. Trump – no doubt having been made aware of the situation – tweeted: “He only won in the eyes of the FAKE NEWS MEDIA. I concede NOTHING! We have a long way to go. This was a RIGGED ELECTION!”. Joy. 

I long gave up on paying attention to much the current president’s tweets that involve capitals, but I am especially bored of this drawn-out tantrum over losing an election that almost all of the rest of the world has accepted. It would be chilling enough at the best of times – let alone when the US is facing an awful new phase in the coronavirus pandemic.

There were more than 160,000 new cases of the virus across the country on Saturday, to go with the more than 180,000 on Friday. There have now been 12 days in a row where more than 100,000 cases have been recorded. The number of people being admitted to hospital is also rising and 1,200 people died on Saturday.

Does the president care? I would hope so, but he is certainly giving the impression of a man who does not see it as his top priority. During a weekend interview on CNN, Dr Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease doctor in the US, said that it has been months since Trump had attended a White House Coronavirus Task Force meeting.

"You know, it was months ago, but, you know, when we have our task force meeting, it's run, as you know, by vice president [Mike] Pence and the vice president then translates that to the president himself. But the last time the president was physically at a task force meeting was several months ago," Fauci said.

Delegation of jobs is one thing – but given the numbers involved recently, you would think Trump might want to hear the information first hand. If the president wants to stew on the election result, he is free to do so – but it is having a lasting impact on events. 

The refusal – so far – of Donald Trump's appointee at the General Services Administration to ascertain the election, the first step that would allow the flow of transition funds and streamlined background checks for incoming Biden staff, means that the president-elect’s team cannot get the information they need to plan fast enough.

Ron Klain, Biden’s pick as his White House chief of staff, told Meet the Press that he wants that sign-off this week so national security briefings can be received and the team can start to plan to address Covid-19. Dr Atul Gawande, a member of Biden's Covid-19 advisory board also told ABC’s This Week that the need for information is acute.

“It is in the nation’s interest that the transition team get the threat assessments… understand the vaccine distribution plans, need to know where the stockpiles are, what the status is of masks and gloves,” he said. “There’s a lot of information that needs to be transmitted. It can’t wait until the last minute.”

We should all be concerned about the speed at which things are happening. The president's ego has to take a backseat to a national – indeed global – crisis that requires action to be taken as swiftly and effectively as possible.