President Donald Trump suggested that he not accept the election results if he loses, prompting a reprimand from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California.
Fox News host Chris Wallace pressured Trump about the possibility of an upcoming loss in an interview that aired for the first time on Sunday. The current poll average shows Trump lags by almost nine points, according to election forecaster FiveThirtyEight.
“I’m not a good loser. I don’t like to lose,” said Trump. “I don’t lose too often. I don’t like to lose.”
Wallace asked if that meant he would not accept the election results.
“No. I have to see,” Trump replied. “No, I’m not going to just say ‘yes.’ I’m not going to say ‘no,’ and I didn’t say it last time either.”
Trump later cited his discredited conspiracy theories of voting by mail, a process that has an incredibly low rate of fraud and numerous built-in protections, to claim that Democrats can “manipulate” elections.
Pelosi rejected Trump’s comments in an interview with “Morning Joe.”
“The fact is, whether he knows it or not, he will leave,” he told the MSNBC morning show Monday. “Just because you don’t want to move out of the White House doesn’t mean we won’t have a grand opening ceremony to inaugurate a duly elected President of the United States.”
Pelosi said that simply being present at the White House does not make someone the president.
“There is a process,” he said. “It has nothing to do with the certain occupant of the White House who doesn’t feel like moving and has to be fumigated there.”
But host Joe Scarborough was concerned that Trump had already shown he was capable of doing “whatever he can do.”
“I think the best and brightest minds in government and outside of government now have to start … preparing for something we haven’t had to prepare for,” he said. “And that is: how does our government work, how does our army work, how does the Secret Service work, how quickly do courts respond to a sitting president who is defeated at the polls and refuses to leave?”
The progressive grassroots group Stand Up America called Trump’s comments “an existential threat to our democracy,” showing that it “does not respect the rule of law.”
“For five years, Trump has tried to undermine our elections over and over again, from asking for foreign interference to making unfounded claims about electoral fraud and lying about the results of the 2016 election,” said Sean Eldridge, the group’s founder and president. . statement. “The American people must be prepared to mobilize if Trump refuses to budge, and we will be prepared to face it in the moment if he does.”
Trump received Wallace’s rejection and skepticism during Sunday’s interview.
Trump falsely claimed that alleged Democratic candidate Joe Biden wanted to “remove the police.”
“Sir, not him,” Wallace pushed back.
Trump ordered an assistant to find a copy of a document that he said showed Biden wanted to “abolish” the police, but Wallace noted that the document did not say such a thing. Biden actually supports increasing federal funding for the police.
A similar moment occurred when Trump falsely insisted that the United States had the lowest coronavirus death rate in the world.
“That is not true, sir,” replied Wallace.
Trump then ordered press secretary Kayleigh McEnany to produce a chart that he said showed the United States had the “lowest death rate in the world.”
Fox News interrupted to verify the President’s facts, explaining that the White House chart did not show that the United States had the lowest death rate in the world. It notably excluded several countries that had a lower mortality rate.
Elsewhere in the interview, Wallace cited polls showing more Americans believe Biden will be more competent as president than Trump.
“Well, I’ll tell you what, let’s do a test. Let’s do a test right now,” Trump said. “Let’s go down. Joe and I will take an exam. Let him take the same exam that I took.”
Trump was referring to a cognitive test, which he said left doctors “very surprised” after doing so.
“I also took the exam when I heard you passed it. It is not the most difficult exam,” Wallace replied. “They have a picture and it says, ‘What is that?’ And it’s an elephant. “
“No, no, no. You see, this is all misrepresentation,” Trump insisted. “Yes, the first questions are easy, but I bet you can’t even answer the last five questions. I bet you can’t. They get very difficult, the last five questions.”
Reporter Julia Davis posted a picture of the last five questions on the exam, noting they ask things like “What day is it?” and where are you?”
