Democracy, Populism, & Domestic Politics, United States Top Trump adviser moves closer to accepting Biden win: 'Obviously, things look that way now'

November 16, 2020
By Zachary Cohen, Evan Perez, and Vivian Salama | CNN

Perry World House's Director of Communications and Research, John Gans, is quoted in this piece from CNN on the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election. 

National security adviser Robert O'Brien promised that there will be a professional transition from the White House National Security Council "if" President-elect Joe Biden is officially determined the winner of the 2020 election, acknowledging "obviously things look that way now" despite President Donald Trump's refusal to concede...

"O'Brien's comments and actions are a reminder that transitions go both ways: although most in Washington focus on who's going into government, there are just as many folks coming out," John Gans Jr., a former chief Pentagon speechwriter and author of the book "White House Warriors: How the National Security Council Transformed the American Way of War," told CNN.

"O'Brien's recent comments do more than acknowledge basic math, they make clear the tension inherent in this moment for those who've mastered life in the alternative reality of the Trump universe. O'Brien's the first of many who will try and surely find the exit from Trump's circle just as fraught and full of friction — and surely as unsatisifying — as life within it," he added.

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