No More Excuses

Not that there ever were...

It was October 19, 2016. During the Las Vegas, Nevada, presidential debate that evening, Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, was asked point blank if he would accept the outcome of the election if he lost. Trump’s response was, “I will keep you in suspense.”

Hillary Clinton, who seems to have understood Trump better than most people at this point, called his comment “horrifying.” She pushed back, saying, “We are a country based on laws, and we’ve had hot, contested elections going back to the very beginning. But one of our hallmarks has always been that we accept the outcomes of our election.”

President Obama’s reaction contemplated the damage Trump was already doing to our institutions. “When you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people’s minds about our elections, that undermines our democracy,” he said. “You’re doing the work of our adversaries for them.”

Senator Lindsey Graham commented on Twitter. His comment was echoed by fellow Republican Senators Jeff Flake, John McCain, and Ben Sasse.

In 2016, there were still people in the Republican Party who saw the danger in undermining public confidence in our elections. Of course, that time is long gone.

Donald Trump took the podium at a rally in Delaware, Ohio, the following day, just weeks ahead of the election. He made this statement:

“Ladies and gentlemen, I want to make a major announcement today. 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.” [The crowd cheered.] “Of course I would accept a clear election result but I would also reserve my right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of a questionable result. Right?” [More cheers.]

October 20, 2016

Any questions? It was clear by October 2016 that Donald Trump would not accept the outcome of an election if he lost. And let’s be precise: Trump’s position was that if he won, as he did, everything was fine. It was only if he lost an election that it should be considered “rigged.” No evidence. No data. Just a spoiled child, a bully, insisting that if he lost, it wasn’t fair.

Everything that followed was predictable. The Big Lie in 2020 was inevitable.

Last weekend, Trump returned to his old tricks. He told an audience, "The only way they're going to win, in my opinion, is if they cheat."

Trump always says the quiet part out loud. As I’ve said, the only real question is whether the country is listening. Here at Civil Discourse we are. But far too many people, for whatever reason, do not understand that Trump will do it again. And that this time, the consequences may be worse.

Like he did in 2016, Trump again signaled in advance of 2020 that he would not accept a loss. He started early.

Here’s a February 2019 tweet from Trump.

That’s more than a year and a half out from the 2020 election. The Democratic nominee wasn’t even set at this point! And while this might be ambiguous in another context, with Trump, at this point, it wasn’t. “They cannot legitimately win.”

I thought it was deeply concerning at the time.

By July 2020, there was no longer any question of where Trump was headed. We knew the election was going to be close. We knew Trump would tell people they couldn’t have confidence in the outcome of the election if he lost. Trump was ready to burn down the house if he lost. But far too many people resisted the conclusion.

On July 19, 2020, Chris Wallace interviewed Trump on Fox News Sunday. Trump refused to commit to honoring the results of the election.

TRUMP: "I think mail-in voting is going to rig the election."

WALLACE: "Are you suggesting that you might not accept the results?"

TRUMP: "I have to see."

WALLACE: "Can you give a direct answer that you will accept the election?

TRUMP: "I have to see."

Full video here.

At that time, every elected Republican should have been asked by the media if they would support him if he refused to abide by the results of the election. None of the usual, "I haven't seen his comments." Americans need to know who stands for democracy and who just wants power.

But that didn’t happen ahead of the 2020 election. It has to happen now. We already have a good picture of the Trump sycophants who will stick with him through electoral loss, illegal schemes, and full on insurrection. But the press has this responsibility, and we should encourage them to fulfill it. And if they don’t, we should ask our elected officials ourselves in town meetings or other interactions. Proof is only a cell phone away, as is the conclusion we can draw from someone who ducks the question.

I believe Trump. He will not accept the outcome of the 2024 election if he loses. He will not just fade away. Much like his lawyers told the Supreme Court to expect “bedlam” if Trump was removed from the ballot in Colorado pursuant to the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment, Trump is telling us to expect bedlam if he loses.

My experience is that far too many people still don’t appreciate how Trump will react to a loss, just like they don’t believe he will carry out an authoritarian plan for America. It does seem surreal. But he’s telling us, as clearly as he did in 2016 and 2020, what he intends to do. There are no excuses for missing the message.

Share the history with the people around you, and listen carefully to what Trump says over these next few weeks and months.

We’re in this together,

Joyce