Richmond says GOP ‘reluctant to stand up and tell the emperor he wears no clothes’

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.) said Sunday that the GOP has been “very reluctant to stand up” to President Trump, who has refused to recognize President-elect Joe Biden’s win. 

Richmond, the incoming director of Biden’s White House Office of Public Engagement, told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that he’s surprised about the “grasp” Trump has on the Republican Party and its members.

{mosads}“It’s just amazing to me the grasp that this president has on the Republican Party, and the reluctance that members have to come out and tell him the hard truth,” he told host Chuck Todd.

The Louisiana Democrat specifically called out his friend, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for not stepping in as the president falsely declares victory. 

“This is the future of our democracy on the line,” Richmond said. “It was a fair and square election. Donald Trump lost. And so, at some point, we have to move on. But this Republican Party has been very reluctant to stand up and tell the emperor that he wears no clothes.”

Richmond called Trump’s actions “certainly un-American” but noted “there’s nothing” the president “will do that will surprise me because he’s shown exactly who he is.”

“At some point, I just hope that the American people understand that this is about them,” he said. “This is not about an elected official, this is about saving lives this is about protecting our country.”

Trump has refused to concede in the election, despite Biden being declared the winner more than two weeks. Instead, the president has put his energy into lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign in several battleground states contesting the vote and falsely alleging widespread voter fraud.

Trump’s appointed administrator of the General Services Administration has also not recognized Biden’s win, delaying the former vice president’s transition team’s access to government officials, intelligence and funding.