Top US Republicans and Democrats on Thursday pushed back hard against US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that he might not accept defeat in the Nov. 3 presidential election, telling him that the US is not “North Korea.”
A day after Trump refused to clearly guarantee a peaceful transfer of power, US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell felt it necessary to assure US voters that the winner of the election would take office as planned in January next year.
On Wednesday, Trump sparked outrage by hinting that he might not honor the results of the election or treat mail-in ballots as legitimate.
Photo: Reuters
Asked at a White House news conference whether he is committed to the peaceful handover of power if defeated, Trump said: “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens. You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster.”
Trump in a radio interview on Thursday repeated his claim that mailed ballots cannot be trusted.
Pressed on his remarks, White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany told reporters: “The president will accept the results of a free and fair election.”
Trump’s remarks casting doubt on the transfer of power came as he significantly trails his Democratic rival, former US vice president Joe Biden, in most national polls.
McConnell, who wields significant power as the top Republican in the US Congress, felt it necessary to issue a statement seen as a veiled warning to Trump.
“The winner of the Nov. 3 election will be inaugurated on Jan. 20,” McConnell wrote on Twitter.
“There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,” he added.
Other political leaders were brusquer.
On the campaign trail, Trump has made unfounded allegations that the election could be rigged by Democrats taking advantage of a surge in voting by mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Wednesday, he asserted that the mailed-in votes would all be suspiciously cast for Biden and should not be counted.
“The ballots are out of control,” he said. “Get rid of the ballots and you will have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation.”
Both parties and Trump are focused on the possibility that local and state vote tallies are to end up contested in court and that those fights could end up in the US Supreme Court, which decided the close November 2000 presidential election.
Trump this week said that is one reason why he is rushing to nominate a conservative to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week.
If Trump can push his nominee through, conservatives would hold six of the high court’s nine seats.
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