Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Benjamin Wittes has had it up to here with “Trumpists and some non-Trumpist conservatives” who keep insisting that Stacey Abrams was a sore loser to Brian Kemp in 2018 when she didn’t concede. As far as we can tell, Abrams has never recanted any of her claims that the election was stolen from her.
Anyway, Wittes took some time yesterday to set the haters straight about what Stacey Abrams did or didn’t do:
It has become a talking point among Trumpists and some non-Trumpist conservatives that @staceyabrams–like Trump–did not concede the race when she ran for governor of Georgia in 2018.
It's really not true. Abrams did not concede that the race was fair, but she did concede… pic.twitter.com/5sgigkZIVn
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) January 12, 2022
Guys, this is gold. In its purest form.
…that under the rules as they were written and understood and implemented, her opponent had prevailed and would become governor. This is significantly more than Trump ever conceded until after the violence of Jan. 6. And he has still never really said this even up to now.
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) January 12, 2022
I have never studied Abrams's claims about the fairness of the vote in Geoegia, so I am not taking a position on whether her substantive points have merit or whether her position was defensible. I am flagging it because it seems to me very wrong to compare it, even formally, ….
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) January 12, 2022
Narrator: Her points are not substantive, nor do they have merit. And her position is indefensible.
Maybe if Benjamin Wittes were willing to take a position on those things, he’d realize that his defense of Stacey Abrams is itself pretty indefensible.
to what what Trump did in the fall of 2020–and has done since.
Here is her speech in full:https://t.co/swLSwaSuDL
— Benjamin Wittes (@benjaminwittes) January 12, 2022
Hey, here’s a wacky notion: Donald Trump has nothing to do with Stacey Abrams. Stacey Abrams lost in 2018 and here we are in 2022 and she still won’t acknowledge it. And media and liberals love her for it. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s contention that the 2020 election was stolen from him has relatively little support for that claim even on the Right. And media and celebrities certainly aren’t fangirling over him the way they do over Stacey Abrams.
Anyway, back to Benjamin’s original point. We just can’t get over the fact that he thought he was doing Stacey Abrams a favor. All he did was reaffirm that she’s been behaving like a petulant child this whole time.
Also don't forget quotes like this from Abrams in the years since she ran for Governor. pic.twitter.com/GfTLzHa2ka
— Chief Impact Officer BT (@back_ttys) January 12, 2022
This. Whole. Time.
Your screenshot says “I cannot concede”
— Logan Dobson (@LoganDobson) January 12, 2022
It’s literally right there, Ben.
— Blame Big Government (@BlameBigGovt) January 12, 2022
Someone didn’t read their own graphic… https://t.co/nViBtg5GRr
— Bruce Schlesman (@BruceSchlesman) January 12, 2022
Reading is hard https://t.co/06Kk0wgkPF pic.twitter.com/o3RXKuBB6b
— Mrs. Brassenstein (@MBrassenstein) January 12, 2022
If Dry Ramen Guy were here, he’d totally point that out, too.
This is really weird, because you’re literally intepreting the phrase “I cannot concede” as a concession.
— RhythmDoc (@RhythmDoc01) January 12, 2022
I…I got nothing. I mean, where do you go from there?
— RhythmDoc (@RhythmDoc01) January 12, 2022
Down the slippery slope is where.
As others have pointed out this is not a concession, but I like the idea that saying the election was not fair is okay. Where do you think repeatedly claiming elections are unfair leads? https://t.co/R2EStzj7Zr
— Chief Impact Officer BT (@back_ttys) January 12, 2022
Think about it, Benjamin. Think about it real hard.
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