Abnormality

While a lot is being made of President Trump's refusal to concede the Presidential race, this isn't anything particularly unusual. The way the election for President works can be broken down into three phases. Phase One was on November 3rd, the date of the general election. Phase Two is when all of the various state (and D.C.) level elections are certified. Phase Three is when the Electoral College meets and casts their votes on December 14th. And that's when the election official ends.

Looking at the popular vote, and then assuming the rest and starting the transition early is a well-established norm, because of the amount of time needed for the transition. But it's still a norm, rather than a legal or constitutional process, and President Trump hasn't shown much regard for norms in the past. Why expect him to start now?

President Trump is the sort of person who treats norms and other sorts of voluntary limits on one's behavior as self-imposed weaknesses; and he's pretty much been that way. His current actions are in keeping with that. I expect that he'll never willingly concede the race, rather waiting for it to be pried out of his grasping fingers. And in the end, it illustrates the limitations of norms. People might expect them to be followed, but there aren't any baked-in consequences, as there are with laws or regulations. And given that President Trump's base of support cared less about norms than they did about having a champion, it's unlikely he'll feel any heat for it this time.