WASHINGTON — Because it’s 2020, anyone anxious about this fall’s presidential election has a new problem to worry about: the possibility that a defeated Donald Trump won’t be willing to leave the West Wing.
The incumbent U.S. president has turned that anti-Trump talking point into a distinct possibility by refusing to confirm that he’ll abide by the results when Americans go to the polls in November.
Joe Goldman, president of the public policy foundation Democracy Fund, calls that a fundamental threat to the peaceful transfer of power.
Goldman also accuses Trump of actively working to undermine U.S. faith in the democratic process with his persistent and unfounded warning, one he repeated again today on Twitter, that mail-in voting is vulnerable to electoral fraud.
Mail-in ballots are widely expected to play a key role in the 2020 election, given the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential dangers of allowing voters to gather in large numbers at polling stations.
Goldman says his group’s research also suggests an “alarming” number of both Democrats and Republicans are “open to political violence” in the event the election is close and their opponents try to claim a narrow victory.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 21, 2020.
The Canadian Press
