President Donald Trump, who never accepted that he lost the popular vote in 2016, has a long history of trying to discredit elections when he doesn’t like the results. On the night of President Obama’s reelection in 2012, Trump tweeted, “This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!”
And to quote Trump during the 2016 presidential primaries: “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he illegally stole it…Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.”
In fact, Trump never committed to accepting the results of the 2016 general election. When asked to do so during the third presidential debate, he responded: “What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. Okay?”
Moreover, at a campaign event the next day, Trump told the crowd: “I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters, and to all of the people of the United States, that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election….If I win.”
More recently, at a rally in Wisconsin in August, the president alleged: “Because the only way we’re gonna lose this election is if the election is rigged. Remember that.” And again, at a campaign stop in Pennsylvania the week before the election, he declared: “The only way we can lose in my opinion is massive fraud.”
So it’s not surprising that Trump has become the first defeated president in American history to refuse to accept the results of an election.
Our democracy is built on a foundation of truth, and trust.
How do you trust someone who claimed that any election loss for him would be fraudulent?
Terry Hansen
Hales Corners, WI
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