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Edward Norton shares his theory behind Trump's "desperate endgame"

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Edward Norton has offered his explanation for Donald Trump’s refusal to concede the US Presidential election, likening the outgoing Commander-in-Chief’s political tactics to a poker game.

  • READ MORE: Edward Norton: “If you take your work seriously, it’s all-consuming”

Joe Biden won the election earlier this month, securing 306 of a required 270 projected electoral college votes to comfortably be confirmed as the country’s new President-elect.

Since then, however, Trump has repeatedly made baseless accusations of widespread voter fraud in an apparent attempt to discredit the result.

The Fight Club actor admitted he’s “no political pundit” but explained that his father, a former federal prosecutor, as well as his experience playing poker with “serious players”, had given him some insights on the matter.

“I do not think Trump is trying to ‘make his base happy’ or ‘laying the groundwork for his own network,’ or that ‘chaos is what he loves,’” Norton wrote.

“The core of it is that he knows he’s in deep, multi-dimensional legal jeopardy and this defines his every action.”

Norton alluded to the various legal challenges Trump faces, many of which he has not yet faced – or been temporarily shielded from – due to his role as US President.

“We’re seeing 1) a tactical delay of the transition to buy time for coverup and evidence suppression 2) above all, a desperate endgame, which is to create enough chaos and anxiety about peaceful transfer of power, and fear of irreparable damage to the system, that he can cut a Nixon-style deal in exchange for finally conceding,” the actor added.

Former President Richard Nixon was pardoned in 1974 by Gerald Ford after Nixon’s resignation in response to the notorious Watergate scandal.

Motherless Brooklyn
Edward Norton in ‘Motherless Brooklyn’ (2019). Credit: Warner Bros.

“I will allow that he’s also a whiny, sulky, petulant, Grinchy, vindictive little 10-ply-super-soft bitch who no doubt is just throwing a wicked pout fest and trying to give a tiny-hand middle finger to the whole country for pure spite, without a single thought for the dead and dying,” he continued.

“But his contemptible, treasonous, seditious assault on the stability of our political compact isn’t about 2024, personal enrichment or anything else other than trying to use chaos and threat to the foundation of the system as leverage to trade for a safe exit. Call. His. Bluff.”

Norton concluded: “Faith in the strength of our sacred institutions & founding principles is severely stretched…but they will hold. They will. He’s leaving, gracelessly & in infamy.

“But if we trade for it, give him some brokered settlement, we’ll be vulnerable to his return. We can’t flinch.”







Charmed actress Alyssa Milano responded: “I love you. Thank you for this.”

The actor is due to star in The French Dispatch, reprising his long-standing working relationship with director Wes Anderson, with the film’s cinematic release currently pushed back to 2021 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

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