Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States, obtaining the 270 electoral votes needed to win. However, President Donald Trump is refusing to concede and has called the election fraudulent. Trump, it’s time to grow up. 

Seemingly since the beginning of the election, Trump has claimed that the election is going to be rigged against him and that voting by mail is not to be trusted. Yet at the same time, the President uses voting by mail himself. So, when he wins and when he votes by mail it’s authentic, but when he loses and others vote by mail it’s fraud? 

Basically, he’s throwing a tantrum. Our 74 year old President is having a hissy because he didn’t win a democratically voted election. 

We should have seen this coming as during the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton said the following, “Everytime Donald thinks things are not going in his direction, he claims whatever it is is rigged against him. He lost the Iowa caucus, he lost the Wisconsin primary, he said the Republican primary was rigged against him. Trump University gets sued for fraud and racketeering, he claims the court system and the federal judge is rigged against him.”

This doesn’t only come with politics or his business endeavors either, as Clinton continued, “There was even a time when he didn’t get an Emmy for his TV program three years in a row and he started tweeting that the Emmys were rigged against him.”

All Trump had to say in response was, “Shoulda’ gotten it” paired with a cheeky smile. 

While we can all agree this behavior is humorous and has entertained us the past four years, it is equally childish. It’s almost hard not to be reminded of a child crossing their arms and having a fit because they lost the Monopoly game. 

Not to mention, he is being spiteful. He has not officially conceded to Biden’s win nor has he offered Biden a visit to the White House to discuss the exchange of powers. Bringing in the next president is typically customary of a sitting president, it makes the process of transitioning into the next administration much easier.

Biden will have to move around this due to Trump’s lack of help, which he has already begun doing by announcing members of his staff. 

On top of this, it is now being reported that Trump is ignoring his presidential duties after losing the election. As David Nakamura for the Washington Post wrote, Trump has been “sequestered from public view, tweeting grievances, falsehoods and misinformation about the election results and about Fox News’ coverage of him.”

So rather than continue to lead the country he is still the Commander in Chief of until late January, he is abandoning his duties and complaining about his loss. Once again, you can’t help but think about a child crossing his arms and throwing a tantrum after the teacher told him it’s no longer his turn. 

Let us not forget either, before election results were announced,Trump addressed the nation claiming he had won and that the election was all a big sham.

“Frankly, we did win this election. So our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation. This is a very big moment, this is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner, so we’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop,” the President said.

So, not only is he being a sore loser, but before he even lost he was trying to ensure that the ball remained in his court. He is so hellbent on the election having been rigged, but before it was over he wanted it to stop, is that not also a form of rigging or cheating?

The definition of something being rigged reads, “when something is rigged, it has been fraudulently manipulated by someone to get their desired outcome.” How is this any different than what Trump was attempting to do with wanting vote counting to stop? His desired outcome was for him to win and he tried to manipulate that outcome by asking the votes to stop. 

This election period Trump has revealed himself as a hypocrite, complaining of everything being rigged against, but at the same time trying to keep votes suppressed by not counting them, a form of rigging.

The nation is sitting at home watching a very grown man throw a tantrum, the man that is supposed to be holding the reigns of the country. We can’t blame him for possibly being embarrassed or feeling defeated after seeing people celebrate in the streets over his loss, but it’s another thing to call the American election a sham just because you lost fair and square. 

Apparently, the President was never taught as a young boy that it’s okay to lose and life happens. He needs to face the reality of his situation, it’s embarrassing as a country to see our President act this way. 

Thankfully, Trump finally appeared on TV yesterday to talk about a vaccine for COVID-19, however he has yet to address the election. It is rumored by CNN he will address the “election reality” at a White House event soon, but only time will tell. 

For now, grow up Trump. You lost, that’s all there is to it. No fraud, no rigging, no secret conspiracies, an election took place and your opponent so happened to be the elected victor. 

Gather up what dignity you have, and grow up.