KEY POINTS

  • The New York Post, a staunch supporter of President Donald Trump, has run an editorial urging him to accept defeat
  • The op-ed asks Trump to refocus on Georgia's Senate runoffs to cement his legacy
  • The New York Post endorsed Trump's presidential run, and ran a dubiously sourced attack on Hunter Biden

The New York Post, one of the few media outlets still in President Donald Trump’s corner, has run an editorial urging him to accept defeat and refocus his efforts on the Georgia Senate runoffs.

The Post has stood by Trump’s side for years, endorsing his presidential run and publishing an attack of dubious veracity on President-elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden. Now it’s calling his resistance to conceding the election “insanity.”

Trump has proven a regular reader of the New York Post. It was among the outlets unaffected by the cancellation of various White House newspaper subscriptions this year, with a steady stream of physical copies making their way to the president.

Sunday’s issue could shake that favor. The headline on the front page reads, “Mr. President, stop the insanity. You lost the election, here’s how to save your legacy.”

That framing continues throughout the article, characterizing election fraud claims as a dangerous distraction, attacking his closest advisers, and urging Trump to focus on cementing his policies by helping the Republicans keep control of the Senate.

“Sidney Powell is a crazy person. Michael Flynn suggesting martial law is tantamount to treason. It is shameful,” the article reads. “To continue down this road is ruinous. If you want to cement your influence, even set the stage for a future return, you must channel your fury into something more productive.”

Georgia’s runoffs, the Post insists, will be the ultimate decider of how Trump is remembered. If the Democrats can take both seats and a narrow majority in the Senate, they will overturn all of Trump’s policies. Beyond that, the Post tells Trump, Democrats will spend the next four years “torturing you with baseless hearings and investigations.”

Donald Trump and Melania Trump
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 23: President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump walk on the south lawn of the White House on December 23, 2020 in Washington, DC. The Trumps are headed to Mar-a-Lago for the holidays with a government shutdown possible on Monday December 28. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images) Getty Images/Tasos Katopodis

Running an editorial assainling Trump carries some risk. After Fox News broke with Trump’s reality to declare Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election, relations between them soured despite Fox’s continued lavish praise. The Post makes sure that any positions that could be seen as betrayals are mixed in with plenty of applause.

“You came out of nowhere to win the presidency. You changed politics, which is something few in American history can say,” the editorial reads. “If Georgia falls, all that is threatened. Democrats will try to write you off as a one-term aberration and, frankly, you’re helping them do it.”