‘Joe Biden is the President-Elect’: Newsmax Says It Will Now Accept Trump’s Defeat
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy. Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images.
Conservative network Newsmax TV will begin recognizing Joe Biden as president-elect after his Monday victory in the Electoral College.
“As a result of the Electoral College vote, Joe Biden is the president-elect and will be referred to as such on Newsmax,” the network said in a Tuesday statement to news outlets. “We also recognize President Trump continues to contest the results and we will cover aspects of that news story.”
Major networks including Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN have widely referred to Biden as the presumptive incoming president since November. Amid President Donald Trump’s protestations to the contrary, upstart conservative competitors have been reticent to follow suit.
The decision by Newsmax stands in contrast to one of its top competitors, One America News, where Biden’s victory has gone largely unacknowledged. But it aligns with previous statements by CEO Christopher Ruddy, who said last week in an interview with South Florida’s Sun Sentinel that the network would “respect” Biden “as the next president of the United States” once presidential electors had met to cast their votes.
Newsmax anchor John Bachman became the first to apply the policy on Monday. “Electoral College votes are being cast today,” Bachman said during his broadcast early in the evening. “Here’s video from four states — New York, New Hampshire, Arizona, and Illinois — all certifying the election for President-elect Joe Biden.”
It isn’t clear how strictly the policy will be applied, or whether it will apply to commentators. Shortly after Bachman’s pronouncement, Greg Kelly — who hosts the network’s top-rated opinion show — hinted that he may take issue with the managerial dictate.
“Our president is in the fight of his life,” Kelly told viewers during his 7 p.m. program. “And there are people right now who are out there calling Joe Biden the ‘president-elect’ now. At this point, there is some political and some historical justification for them to do so. I personally feel they’re wrong.”
