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northAfter President Donald Trump’s unclear statements about surrender in the event of an electoral defeat, the White House is trying to clarify. “The president will accept the results of a free and fair election,” spokeswoman for the president’s office Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday when reporters asked. Trump had evasively responded to a reporter’s question Wednesday about whether he would guarantee a peaceful transfer if his Democratic rival Joe Biden won: “We will have to wait and see what happens,” he said.
Trump not only drew violent criticism from Democrats. The opposition also came from within their own ranks: on Thursday, several Republicans deliberately decided on a peaceful handover as the cornerstone of the constitution. The incumbent president had expressed his expectation that the election would not be decided until the Supreme Court. Previously, he had repeatedly claimed that vote-by-mail, which is likely to be heavily used this year due to Corona, is increasing voter fraud. He did not provide any evidence for this.
It is an unprecedented process for an American president to refuse to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power if he is removed from office. Trump’s challenger Joe Biden reacted in disbelief. “What kind of country are we in?” He asked. “I don’t know what to say about it.” The opposition Democratic candidate and former vice president has been consistently ahead of Trump in the polls for months.
“They are not in North Korea, Turkey or Russia”
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi compared Trump on Thursday to authoritarian rulers in other states. “Mr. President, you are not in North Korea, Turkey or Russia,” Pelosi said. “You are in the united states. It is a democracy. “
Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a leading internal critic of Trump’s party, expressed a similar view: “A peaceful transfer of power is fundamental to democracy; without it we have Belarus,” he wrote on Twitter with an eye to the authoritarian Eastern European country. . Any hesitation on this is “unthinkable and unacceptable”.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised an orderly transfer of power should Trump lose the presidential election. “The winner of the November 3 election will take office on January 20,” wrote the influential politician on the short message service Twitter. “There will be an orderly transition, like every four years since 1792.” In 1792, the first President George Washington was re-elected for a second term.
Trump has long cast doubt on the reliability of the electoral process. His criticism relates to voting by mail, which he describes as extremely susceptible to manipulation. However, experts strongly disagree with this assessment. Due to the crown pandemic, many more citizens are likely to use the vote by mail than in previous elections, including mostly supporters of Democrats.
Republicans have filed lawsuits against voting by mail
At Wednesday’s press conference, Trump appeared to speak in favor of not recognizing the votes cast by mail. “Get rid of the ballots and it will be very peaceful. Then there will be no transfer, there will be continuation. “
Republicans have filed several lawsuits against voting by mail. Therefore, the probability that the election result will be contested is high. Trump himself said he believed the election result would end in the Supreme Court.
On the Supreme Court of the United States, conservative justices are currently in the majority. This conservative majority could be cemented for years by the successor to the late left-liberal constitutional judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Trump, who as president has the right to nominate, wants to announce his candidate for office on Saturday.
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