Geraldo Rivera urges ‘knucklehead’ Donald Trump supporters to accept election defeat

Geraldo Rivera appealed Wednesday to fellow supporters of President Trump to stop being “knuckleheads” and accept that he lost to Democratic challenger Joseph R. Biden instead of threatening secession.

Mr. Rivera, a Fox News fixture who has referred to Mr. Trump as a longtime friend, reiterated the plea in a video he shared on social media “urging again to stop this fighting” over the election.

“Joe Biden won. Donald Trump lost. The Electoral College has now decided. It is over,” Mr. Rivera, 77, said in the video.

The former “Geraldo” host subsequently encouraged other Republicans to focus not on the finished presidential race but instead on the upcoming Senate runoff elections taking place in Georgia.

“They are critical,” Mr. Rivera said about next month’s Senate contests. “But as far as the presidential race is concerned, it is over.”

Mr. Rivera, who has known Mr. Trump personally since the 1970s, has recently positioned himself to be one of the most recognizable supporters of the president to publicly insist he admit defeat.

While the Electoral College made the results of the White House race official Monday, Mr. Trump said there was voter fraud and still maintains he won. He has refused to concede to Mr. Biden.

Appealing to fellow Trump supporters on Twitter, Mr. Rivera argued that they are causing damage to the democracy by refusing to abandon efforts to overturn the president’s the results of the recent election.

“And those people who continue to promote some fantastic legislative or judicial or constitutional, you know, magic wand that’s going to save the Trump presidency: You are wrong. You are misleading the American people. You are tearing at the fabric of the American republic,” Mr. Rivera said.

“You have knuckleheads now talking about secession, talking about a union of states that are like-minded. I mean, come on, that’s crazy stuff. We have to move on,” he said. “We’re one country.”

Fellow conservative media personality Rush Limbaugh recently said he believed the U.S. was “trending toward secession,” causing Mr. Rivera to condemn his comment at the time as treasonous.

Mr. Rivera also said recently that Mr. Trump stopped taking his calls on the heels of him publicly acknowledging the president lost his race for reelection.