Mitt Romney says Trump won’t go ‘quietly in the night’ after loss to Biden

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said he doesn’t see President Trump going “quietly in the night” after President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

“You’re not going to change the nature of President Trump … He is who he is. He has a relatively relaxed relationship with the truth,” the Utah lawmaker said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. “I’m convinced that once all remedies have been exhausted, if those are exhausted in a way that’s not favorable to him, he will accept the inevitable.”

“But don’t expect him to go quietly in the night. That’s not how he operates,” he said. “I would prefer to see a more graceful departure but that’s just not in the nature of the man.”

Trump has yet to concede the election to Biden, who was declared the winner on Saturday after winning Pennsylvania and gaining the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.

The president continues to claim he won and question the accuracy of the count, and his reelection campaign has filed lawsuits in several states challenging the outcome, claiming fraud and that the election was rigged.

Romney cautioned Trump on his legal strategy.

“I’m more concerned about the language that’s used. I think it’s fine to pursue every legal avenue that one has. But I think one has to be careful in the choice of words. I think when you say that the election was corrupt or stolen or rigged, that that’s, unfortunately, rhetoric that gets picked up by authoritarians around the world,” Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”

“I think it also discourages confidence in our democratic process here at home. And with a battle going on right now between authoritarianism and freedom, why, I think it’s very important that we not use language which can encourage a course in history which would be very, very unfortunate,” he added.

In his victory speech on Saturday evening, Biden said he would work to unify and heal the country and vowed that he would represent Democrats and Republicans in his administration.

Romney said the country should get behind Biden.

“I think half the country thinks it’s a great idea. I think the other half thinks it’s not such a great idea, but the reality is given the fact that the statisticians have come to a conclusion at this stage, I think we get behind the new president, unless for some reason that is overturned,” Romney said on CNN.

“We get behind the new president and wish him the very best and I send our congratulations and will keep this president, like the last president, in our prayers,” he said.