The 2020 presidential election is shaping up to be one of the most contentious ones in history with President Donald Trump‘s refusal to say that he will accept the results if he loses against Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
Here is what President Trump said that started the controversy: “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens. You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster. (G)et 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.”
The remark forced Utah Republican Senator Mitt Romney to come out and put the president back in his place. The lawmaker stated: “Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus. Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.”
Democrats are going on the offense and are calling the president an authoritarian figure. Jocelyn Benson, the Secretary of State for Michigan, a critical swing state in November, said: “This is the way democracy works, no winner is declared until every ballot is counted. At the same time, we recognize that from the minute the polls close to the minute we do have that final tabulation, there will be efforts to try to sow seeds of doubt among our electorate and others about the sanctity of our vote. So we are going to respond to that as we always do with facts, data, truth, and transparency.”
Vice President Mike Pence responded while playing defense: “President Trump and I will accept the results of a free and fair election.”
For critics, this was still not enough. They are accusing Pence of double-talk because he is leaving a little wiggle room for his ticket to deny the results.
Trump did the same thing in 2016, but Biden’s lead is more stable than Hillary Clinton’s. Some observers are saying that Trump is good at creating distractions, especially with his handling of the coronavirus pandemic that had devastating results for the country.
However, no one expects Trump to lose many supporters over this controversy, but a few people in the middle could still move to Biden and give him a boost to win.