Former GOP POTUS Nominee Bob Dole Calls 2020 Defeat ‘Pretty Bitter Pill’ for Trump, But ‘It’s a Fact’ He Will ‘Not Be in the White House on Jan. 21’
Former GOP presidential nominee Bob Dole sympathized with Donald Trump, calling his defeat in the 2020 election a “pretty bitter pill” for the 45th president to accept, but he was unequivocal that his former Senate colleague, Joe Biden, will take office next month.
In an interview with the Kansas City Star, the Republican Party’s 1996 presidential standard bearer, who lost his bid to unseat then-President Bill Clinton, weighed in on both the current and next president.
“The election is over and Biden will be president on January 20. I know the president has not conceded and he may never concede, but he will not be in the White House on January 21,” Dole told the Star, making a very public break with Trump and numerous House and Senate Republicans, who continue to push baseless conspiracy theories that Trump was cheated out of the presidency. In fact, all 50 states plus the District of Columbia certified their respective votes, the Electoral College also certified Biden’s victory on Monday, and Trump’s legal team has lost dozens of court cases attempting to overturn the election, many of them thrown out on their merits.
“It’s a pretty bitter pill for Trump,” Dole acknowledged. “Gut it’s a fact he lost. It’ll take him a while to accept that.”
Dole, who was the top-ranking Senate Republican from 1987 to 1996 when Biden was chair of the powerful Judiciary Committee, then turned to discussing his previous colleague.
“He’s a friend of mine and he was a good chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the Senate,” Dole said. “Right now it’s over and Biden will be president. And we all hope he’ll do a good job and not be too liberal. He’s got a lot of liberal ideas. We’ll see if we can keep the Senate,” Dole added, alluding to the two remaining Senate rates that will be decided next month in the Georgia runoff election.
