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What Happens if Trump Refuses to Concede?
You presumably saw him say he might not. He hinted that unflattering articles in The New York Times amounted, in his mind, to “rigging” the election:
What I’ve seen — what I’ve seen is so bad. First of all, the media is so dishonest and so corrupt, and the pile-on is so amazing. The New York Times actually wrote an article about it, but they don’t even care. It’s so dishonest. And they’ve poisoned the mind of the voters.
Anyone left who still thinks this man’s playing with a full deck? If so, a question for you. What will you do if Trump refuses to concede?
Published in General
Did you also think Al Gore was insane when he challenged George Bush’s win?
Good Lord, the scenario of a contested election is really not so incomprehensible or foreign to our democratic process. Spare me your case of the vapors.
Nothing?
I doubt Trump sitting in a green room screaming will do much one way or the other once the vote is ratified by the various Secretaries of State.
Didn’t Timothy Groseclose, I think, do a study where they estimated that media bias is worth 10 points to the Democrats?
It’s not wrong to complain about it, and if Trump refuses to concede it really won’t matter at all. It won’t stop Hillary from being sworn it. Lots of Democrats never accepted the legitimacy of Bush’s win in 2000. In fact, Hillary basically said that just this week when appearing with Gore.
This is a waste of time & a false step, Miss Berlinski.
He is referring to the corruption that is being exposed literally by the hour by the Clinton camp. So it was not outlandish, but of course, the MSM jumped on it instead of covering the real issues – yawn…..so predictable. We’re being told “not to read” the WikiLeaks stuff – that it was a criminal act to expose these emails, they pulled the plug on Assange, yet Clinton is not playing by the rules. Noted that Hillary made a fuss about that last night, the Russians hacking, not able to defend the vile contents.
We’ve also been told that the election process will be monitored by HLS, that “some” voting machines have or could be tampered with……and on and on….Also heard that Clinton people are going into nursing homes making sure elderly are signed up as Democrats – the stuff keeps coming out… I think @pseudodionysius posted the undercover video where it’s openly admitted that they are trying to tamper with voting and cross state lines. It was shown on Fox News earlier this week.
I think Trump was sending a message to the Hillary camp to knock off the cheating and just let people vote.
Let’s be charitable – the voting can be rigged and Trump could be poor loser.
Okay, but it was (at best) a dumb thing to say, Mama Toad. Another bullet in his already-riddled foot.
What a weird post-election we’re going to have… Saint Obama will remove himself to dwell in luxury a few miles from the White House, there to remain relevant by opining serenely and uselessly on the Issues of the Day…
Trump will be back in New York, there to remain relevant by opining ever more outrageously… and Hillary and Bill will be co-creating the first Female Presidency between them, with Huma and little miss Heaven-Knows-Who set up to be scandals for the New Trump Network to uncover.
Please, God. Make the next four years boring.
No, he was losing his noggins. Now it’s on how many front pages, including Ricochet apparently? It was a considerable mistake.
True
Should ministers know not to ask for impossible things?
Who cares? Babies gonna be babies. It’s meaningless if he doesn’t concede. But, like everything else he’s done, it will probably reflect poorly on the party in general. Trump is going to be a focus of Democratic election commercials for the foreseeable future.
Remember when Trump was going to win in a landslide? I mean, I guess anything could happen, but I’ve noticed a disappearance of such claims on Ricochet.
The real question is how we move forward. Is there a way to compromise with the people who thought it was prudent to give Trump the nomination? If not, is there a way to win without them? I’m skeptical on both counts.
Completely disagree. I thought it was a great moment when he told Chris Wallace that he would wait to see the scenario. Good for him.
In answer to Claire’s question, What will I do if Trump refuses to concede? I answer the same as the man. We shall see what the scenario is at the time and I will let you know then.
Once Trump loses nothing he does will really matter. One does not need to concede an election to lose it. If Trump refuses to accept the result (especially if it is beyond a doubt ie. not a Bush v. Gore scenario where it all comes down to a few thousand votes in one state) he will just add a new layer of crassness and incivility to the process. It will end up being his lowest point. I think he won’t do it and I think if he does it may actually be the only act of help he will give to the Republican party as it will give them all the best cover to abandon him wholesale.
Maybe it will be like “Angels with Dirty Faces” where the best thing he can do is go out with as little grace and dignity as possible to break his mystique.
It was a mistake to bring up the fact that Clinton’s campaign has hired paid thugs and disrupters to mess with the election process already?
In what possible universe is this a mistake?
Mama Toad, in the universe where conservatives like you are a pretty small faction of already-committed Trump voters.
C’mon, it’s not like partisans are firebombing Republican campaign headquarters. Or there is any evidence that fascist tactics are used to disrupt campaign events. Or of collusion between the press and the ruling party. That is just crazy talk.
Rest assured, every vote coming out of Chicago, Philadelphia, and St. Louis is completely legit.
In the universe where Trump is unable to articulate that point?
Please elaborate, I’m still not tracking.
Ok, folks, whoever needs basic lessons in suspiciousness, I’ll help.
Lesson 1: If you’re a partisan & are shouting for joy–you should suspect that most of the electorate is not joining you.
Claire,
I’m sure you have led a charmed life and have never really seen democratic big city machine politics up close and personal. Most of what Trump has talked about is true and probably there is much much more. Trump has the right in this Constitutional Republic to make a court challenge to an election result. This whole Imperial attitude from Obama and Clinton and the pseudo-pious press gives me the feeling of nails scratching across a blackboard. This is the attitude of the Global Governance Gang. If the result is going to be what we want then fraud isn’t of any concern. However, if the results aren’t going to be what we want, like in Austria, then we come up with any technicality we can to disrupt the outcome.
One wonders just how much money is being funneled to the legacy media to get someone with the reputation of Brett Stephens to write something as ridiculous as this article.
POLLAK: Bret Stephens and the Imaginary Nazis of NeverTrump
Trump is not an anti-Semite and the democratic party is as corrupt as the day is long. Through personal experience, I give you my guarantee.
Regards,
Jim
Do you think this will be an election where the electoral vote margin will be as close as it was in 2000 (when the electoral majority hinged on a difference of only about 500 votes in Florida)? If so, I’m afraid you should brace yourself for a very big disappointment on the morning of November 9.
Mr. Trump is behind in the polls. Mostly, people already think he’s lost. His defeat is faced by the country with relief, for the most part. This comment just added a bit more to the anxieties, somewhat skillfully handled by the media, that will then find relief.
Trump was saying that the primaries were rigged, too, when he was doing poorly, as in Wisconsin. Remember that? There was zero evidence of it, but he focused on it, anyway. He blamed Ted Cruz for his poor showing when Cruz’s campaign mistakenly mentioned they had heard that Carson wasn’t going to be in Iowa, if memory serves.
So, for Trump, it’s not necessary to find evidence of cheating for him to claim the election is rigged. He only needs a poor showing. The polls are rigged. The media is rigged. The voting is rigged.
If there is some cheating going on, that is after the fact evidence of claims he was going to make anyway.
ps: Does anyone think that the cheating only goes one way?
I don’t think anything of substance will happen. It will, however, trigger the media to report headlines like “Republicans Refuse to Concede!” The media will keep Trump in the headlines, as they’ve done for the last year, so long as he serves their purpose.
Of course! Conservatives are sainted, liberals are devils!
Mr. Gawron, let’s not act as though every truth can be uttered at any time, to any audience without incurring disadvantages…
Ben Shapiro pointed out that Trump’s main motivation in recent times has been to establish a raison d’être for his new network. There are certainly a large number of voters who feel disenfranchised by the eight years of Obama, and the prospect of another four of Hillary is likely to tip the scales of their reason over the edge. Will they be willing to pay a few bucks a month to listen to this lunatic’s ranting. I suppose so. This could add up to several million dollars in Trump’s coffers, the extent of which has always been somewhat questionable. All Trump needs to do is feed the paranoia that already exists among his most fevered followers, and he will have his heart’s desire into the foreseeable future.
1:01:33 is around where Chris Wallace starts the question.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3695&v=VLdmEDOAA4A
Why does it matter? The Constitution says nothing about concession. I don’t know when the tradition of the concession speech began, but it’s just a courtesy. Unless Trump’s grumbling causes his supporters to rise up in revolt — which I can’t see happening — he can gripe all he wants. It will just make him look smaller and more ridiculous.
Why would he concede?
Trump is a winner, just ask him. If he loses this election, the only possible reason is that the election was stolen from him. He has literally been the best Presidential candidate this country or any other country has ever seen. He has a great brain, clearly the best brain of any person in the world. His brain is so great that he is the first person in the history of the world that can perfectly plan the economy to maximize human happiness for the country and the world.
If he gets less than 99.9999999% of the vote, it is obvious that people need to be sent to re-education camps so they learn to appropriately worship the great brain of Donald Trump. We can call it Trump University.