Did Trump Really Just Say He Won’t Concede the Election?
Yes, he did
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It seems impossible that Donald Trump could say anything that would shock any of us any longer. At some point, you grow numb. But here we go again.
You’ve seen the headlines. When asked on Wednesday if he would concede power peacefully, Trump told reporters, “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens.”
He continued, “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.” (He’s talking about mail-in ballots and absentee ballots. He’s been setting the framework to discount their validity for months now. It’s not true. There is no reason to suspect mail-in voting will result in fraud.)
He goes on, “Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very, there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation, the ballots are out of control.”
Don’t expect a peaceful transfer of power
The president of the United States of America just announced that he wants to “get rid of the ballots.” This news needs to be everywhere. The words, “there won’t be a transfer” need to be on every news outlet over and over again.
In the middle of all of the other tragic news, America is about to lose the one thing we can point to with pride. Our democracy is threatened.
This is no joke. This is no overreaction. He is telling us he won’t concede an election in which he loses the vote.
How could he do it?
It may seem impossible, but The Atlantic has a story detailing how his administration is planning to stay in power if they lose the election. It’s through the use of the electoral college. And here’s how it would work:
- The Trump administration claims that mail-in voting is rigged in close-call key states.
- The Republican state legislatures announce that the mail-in ballots are fraudulent.
- The state legislatures appoint a Trump-loyal electoral college.
- The loyal Trump electorates cast their vote for Trump, regardless of the popular vote.
It’s questionable if this will work. The long tradition of voting in the US lets the people decide on the electoral college. The electoral college is elected, not appointed.
But, if it’s close and it comes down to mail-in ballots as the deciding factor, we could be in for trouble. Trump has cast enough doubt on mail-in votes to make this unlikely scenario a possibility.
The president of the United States of America just announced that he wants to “get rid of the ballots.”
Voter intimidation at the polls
There are other tactics Republicans are employing. Like making voting difficult for the other party. Think it can’t happen? It already has.
Republicans are recruiting volunteers to “watch” the polls. Otherwise known as voter intimidation. It’s illegal, but Trump isn’t going to let a little thing like the law get in his way.
Not content with civilian volunteers to intimidate Democratic voters, Trump has made repeated calls for police to watch polling sites. This is also illegal.
If this is beginning to sound like one of those countries where they pretend the people get to vote for their candidate, when all along you know exactly you will win, it’s because that’s the exact sort of tactics dictators use.
Read the article in depth if you want more information. It goes into exquisite detail as to the trouble we may have raining down upon us in the next few months.
Where is your tent?
One thing is certain. Americans are in for more rough times. We’ve got a pandemic, racial injustice, a dire economic outlook, out of control wildfires, and a hurricane season that won’t end.
And now, we get to contend with the real possibility that the election dividing the nation is not going to be over after the voting is done.
It’s time to get the camping gear ready. We may need to park ourselves in Washington, DC this November if we want to keep this thing we call a democracy going.
