Will Donald Trump “commit” to a “peaceful transfer of power” if he loses the election in November-December, and probably January-February?
That’s a significantly stupid question. It raises the specter of American troops in the streets, the arrest of opposition politicians — the jackboot of a police state crushing the American people.
Will you commit, here today, for a peaceful transferal of power after the election? There’s been rioting in many cities across this country. Would you commit to making sure that there is a peaceful transferal of power after the election?
Trump’s full response — inelegant and slightly incoherent — nevertheless set off a media firestorm that’s still raging today.
“Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump said. “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.
Pressed further, Trump said: “We’ll want to have — get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very — we’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.”
Yes, those “ballots” — we should “get rid of the ballots,” right? All this messy democracy stuff would just go away then.
That’s the way the story is being reported. Not that Trump believes we should get rid of mail-in ballots, but that we should get rid of all ballots. How could anyone interpret what Trump said to mean we should dispense with ballots entirely?
And what about Trump committing to a “peaceful transfer of power”? Trump never mentions it. But the headline in several publications today is: “Trump won’t commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses.”
No candidate for any office from dog catcher to the president should ever commit to conceding anything. The media just wants to hear Trump repeat one more time that he won’t commit to “accepting” the results of the election if it was fraudulent. Then they can write their stories based on what Trump never said and fill in the blanks about Trump not “accepting” or “committing” to leaving office.
If it’s like this five weeks before the election, what’s it going to be like by Election Day?
Republicans have been playing the media’s game for four years. It’s so much easier to accept the media’s false premise about what Trump said and condemn that rather than trying to uncoil what Trump actually said and comment on that.
Congressional Republicans gently pushed back Thursday against President Donald Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the November election.
Hill Republicans suggested in statements Thursday morning that this year’s election would be no different than previous ones and reiterated that the Constitution guarantees that whoever loses must cede the presidency. But no one condemned Trump directly by name, and they declined to weigh in on whether it was appropriate for the president to suggest he won’t leave office.
“The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.”
Yes, Mitch but do you condemn Trump? Or are you all for a Trump dictatorship?
Trump is doing what any president would do in a tight race but is getting skewered for it because he’s Trump. And the towering dishonesty of the media continues to astonish and amaze.
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