Trump-endorsing newspaper tells president he’s lost election in scathing editorial

‘It’s an insult to reason and logic to argue that isolated irregularities constitute proof of a grand national conspiracy’

A newspaper that endorsed president Donald Trump in both 2020 and 2016 has released a scathing editorial chastising his claims of election fraud and affirming he has “lost the election.”

The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada's largest newspaper, endorsed Mr Trump for a second term as president in the run-up to the election on 3 October. The newspaper also backed Mr Trump in 2016.

However, in an editorial published on Thursday, the newspaper hit out at the president’s reaction to the election saying that Mr Trump’s challenges to the result were only “prolonging the inevitable” and are “an insult to reason and logic.”

“Rhetoric from Trump surrogates alleging widespread illegal activity has been devoid of detailed evidence supporting the charge that there was a concerted effort to ‘steal’ the election through corruption,” the paper wrote, Rawstory reported.

“An electoral system that involves the participation of 150 million Americans will have its share of issues, but it’s an insult to reason and logic to argue that isolated irregularities constitute proof of a grand national conspiracy.”

Mr Biden was declared winner of the 2020 presidential election by networks and news agencies on Saturday after securing more than the 270 electoral votes needed for victory. Mr Trump has yet to concede to the president-elect.

The president has spent the majority of his time following the announcement making baseless claims of voter fraud in swing states that he says cost him his victory and pursuing legal action.

The Nevada newspaper bluntly rebuffed these actions saying Mr Trump “lost this election because he ultimately didn’t attract enough votes and failed to win a handful of swing states that broke his way in 2016.”

The editorial also criticised the president’s refusal to cooperate with the president-elect’s transition to power saying “Mr Trump expected no less from the Obama administration in 2016.”

“Mr Biden deserves the same consideration today regardless of how long the president seeks to delay the inevitable.”

Nevada, a crucial battleground and one of the last remaining states to process its results, was declared in favour of Mr Biden on Saturday, just after Mr Biden was declared to have won the election by news outlets.

Mr Trump’s campaign announced it would file a lawsuit against the state of Nevada before the final results were called, claiming voter fraud without providing any evidence.