Yes, you heard me right. The best thing Trump can do for America is continue to fight the election results all the way to the Supreme Court. Many would argue there is no path to victory and Trump should concede now. While I agree there is virtually no chance Trump’s fight will result in victory, there is also no chance his supporters will accept as legitimate the election results without a fight. The best possible outcome for America is to let all the lawsuits play out. 

At this point, what would a Trump concession look like anyway? He is not going to suddenly accept the legitimacy of the election results he has been attacking; and even if he did his supporters wouldn’t buy it. He could attempt to take the high road and step aside for the good of the country. But this would send the message that the election was rigged and he was a noble victim. Either of these outcomes would leave us with nearly half the country questioning the results of the election and another four years of “not my President.” 

The best option for the country is for the courts to expeditiously process all the lawsuits. Every affected state should fully and openly cooperate with every investigation. We should all accept that legal adjudication of a close election as part of the process and we should welcome a close inspection to ensure the election was properly conducted. In the end it is unlikely the Supreme Court will change the outcome of the election and it will be difficult for Trump or his supporters to attack the ruling of a 6-3 conservative majority, three of whom were appointed by Trump himself. While some may still holdout, most Americans will accept the election results if we let the legal battle play out.

The reality is they will not be able to prove widespread voter fraud significant enough to change the results of the election. But unless we let the challenges play out, there are many who will not accept the results. 

We should all also acknowledge our voting system is flawed. Some of this may be due to the hastily implemented changes many states implemented in response to the pandemic. But this is not the first election to highlight the deficiencies in our elections. While Republicans may have overstated the risks, Democrats’ failure to even acknowledge the existence of these very real risks borders on the absurd. I do not believe there was widespread coordinated fraud, but I am certain there were illegal mail-in ballots cast. And in many cases, states were negligent in their handling of the mail-in vote process leading to legitimate questions about their validity. If we have any hope of uniting the country and restoring some degree of trust in the government we must fix the electoral process.