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WASHINGTON (AFP) – On Wednesday (September 23), US President Donald Trump clearly refused to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the next US election in November to Joe Biden.
“Well, we’ll have to see what happens,” Trump responded when asked at a White House press conference if he was committed to the most basic principle of democratic government in the United States.
Trump, who is currently behind in the polls against Democratic challenger Biden, then resumed his almost daily complaint about the way the elections are being staged.
Referring to the increasing use of vote-by-mail ballots, apparently, due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said: “You know I have been complaining very strongly about ballots and ballots are a disaster.”
Trump frequently claims that vote-by-mail ballots are vulnerable to massive fraud and is encouraged by Democrats to rig the election.
However, there is no evidence that ballots sent through the postal service have ever led to significant fraud in the US elections.
At the press conference, Trump appeared to suggest nullifying what is expected to be the large number of ballots mailed, saying that in such a scenario, he would remain in power.
“Get rid of the ballots and you will have a very peaceful one; there will be no transfer, frankly. There will be a follow-up,” he said.
Trump’s latest insistence that there cannot be a fair presidential election on November 3 came as pressure mounted on his plan to place a new right-wing Supreme Court justice.
He is scheduled to nominate a replacement Saturday for the late liberal-leaning judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Her Republican Party, which has a majority in the Senate, is expected to quickly confirm the candidate.
If successful, the nine-judge court will likely have a strongly pro-conservative lean in the years to come.
Democrats are crying badly, saying the process should wait until the election results are known, allowing the winner to shape the Supreme Court.
With Trump and the Republicans mounting a series of court challenges against the use of mail-in ballots, the chances of a contested election result are considered high.
On Wednesday, Trump said he believes the election “will end in the Supreme Court.”
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