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WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump refuses to publicly commit to accept the results of the upcoming White House elections, recalling a similar threat he made weeks before the 2016 vote, as he mocks polls that show lags behind Democrat Joe Biden. Trump says it is too early to make such an ironclad guarantee.
“I have to see. Look … I have to see,” Trump told moderator Chris Wallace during an extensive interview on “Fox News Sunday.” “No, I’m not going to say yes. I’m not going to say no, and I didn’t say it last time either. “
Trump also criticized the Pentagon brass for favoring the renaming of bases that honor Confederate military leaders, a push for change fueled by the national race debate after the death of George Floyd. “I don’t care what the military says,” said the commander in chief.
The president described the country’s leading infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, as “a bit alarming” about the coronavirus pandemic, and Trump stuck to what he had said in February: that the virus “is going to go away.” . “On Fox, he said:” In time I will be right. “The United States tops the world list of fatalities with more than 140,000 confirmed infections, at 3.7 million.
It is remarkable that a sitting president expressed less than complete confidence in the electoral process of American democracy. But for Trump, it comes from his insurgent playbook four years ago, when in the final stages of his career against Hillary Clinton, he said he would not commit to honoring the election results if the Democrat won.
Pressured during an October 2016 debate about whether he would abide by the will of the voters, Trump replied that “it would keep him on hold.” The president’s remarks to Fox are sure to fuel the conversation on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers had already voiced their concerns privately over a scenario in which Trump disputes the election results.
Trump has seen his presidential popularity erode for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and following national protests focused on the racial injustice that erupted after Floyd’s death in Minneapolis, nearly two months.
Trump contends that a series of polls showing that his popularity is eroding and that Biden has an advantage are flawed. He believes that Republican voters are underrepresented in such polls.
“First of all, I’m not losing, because those are bogus polls,” Trump said in the taped interview, which aired on Sunday. “They were false in 2016 and now they are even more false. Polls were much worse in 2016. “
Trump was frequently combative with Wallace in defending his administration’s response to the pandemic, weighing up the Black Lives Matter movement and trying to portray Biden, the alleged Democratic candidate, as lacking the mental capacity to serve as president.
Among the topics discussed was the push for wholesale changes in the police that has spread across the country. Trump said he could understand why American blacks are upset by the way police disproportionately use force against them.
“Of course I do. Of course I do,” the president said, adding his usual saying that “whites are also killed as well.”
He said that “he was not offended by Black Lives Matter,” but at the same time he defended the Confederate flag, a symbol of racism of the past, and said that those who “proudly have their Confederate flags are not talking about racism.”
“They love their flag, it represents the South, they like the South. That is freedom of expression. And you know, everything with ‘cancel culture’, we cannot cancel all our history. We cannot forget that the North and the South fought. We have to remember that, otherwise we will end up fighting again. You can’t cancel everything, “Trump said.
Wallace challenged Trump on some of his claims and called the president at the time, such as when Trump falsely claimed that “Biden wants to eliminate the police.” The former vice president has not joined activists uniting behind that banner. He has proposed more money for the police, conditioned on improvements in their practices.
Trump continues to insist that Biden “signed a letter” with one of his main rivals on the left, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. At one point in the interview, Trump asks aides to bring him documentation to support his claim. However, Trump cannot point to the language of a Biden-Sanders task force policy document released this month by the Biden campaign.
Trump backed his promise to veto a $ 740 billion defense bill over the requirement that the Defense Department change the names of bases named for Confederate military leaders. That list includes Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort Hood in Texas, and Fort Benning in Georgia.
The president argued that there were no viable alternatives if the government ever tried. Are we going to name it after the Rev. Al Sharpton? Trump asked, referring to a prominent civil rights leader. “What are you going to call it?”
Trump, 74, stuck to a campaign charge that Biden, 77, cannot handle the rigors of the White House because of his age. As for polls showing the incumbent lags behind, Trump noted that he was thought to be behind for much of the 2016 contest. “I’m not going to lose,” he predicted.
The president and top aides have long accused Biden of using the pandemic as an excuse to stay “in his basement” at his Delaware home. In fact, Biden has changed much of his online campaign, but he frequently travels in Delaware and Pennsylvania, hosting speeches and small meetings with voters and community leaders who are within walking distance of his home. Biden’s campaign says it will begin resuming normal travel and campaign activities, but only when health officials and state and local authorities say it is safe.
Asked about the coronavirus, Trump rebuked Fauci, the expert at the National Institutes of Health, and repeated false claims that anyone could be tested and that increased testing was the only reason the United States was seeing more cases. . When Wallace cited criticism of the lack of a national plan to deal with the virus, Trump said: “I always take responsibility for everything because ultimately it is also my job,” and said, “I supplied everyone.”
Cases are increasing because people are infecting each other more than they were when most people were cornered. The percentage of tests that tested positive for the virus has increased in most of the country.
