It’s astounding that in the United States of America, it should be necessary for political leaders to speak out in favor of the idea that elections count and the results should be acknowledged. However, as Donald Trump increasingly leans on attacking fair elections as a means of explaining his upcoming loss, Democratic leaders have come forward with a statement calling on everyone to join in supporting the core principles of democracy.
“The basic functioning of our democracy relies on the simple principle that win or lose an election, both sides accept the result. After the most closely-contested presidential election in decades, we put our differences aside, accepted the result and worked with President Bush. Our system is designed to maintain faith in the process. It is essential that everyone acknowledges that the process is fair, even if all parties don’t like the result of a given election. That is why we have tremendous transparency built into the process, from the precinct level to Democratic and Republican secretaries of state. And that is why our system allows for recounts, according to applicable state laws.
The statement doesn’t hesitate to point out those leaders singularly lacking in leadership, as Reid and Pelosi’s counterparts have spent the last month hiding from their party’s candidate.
“When a major party’s nominee riles up his supporters and repeats the lie that the election is ‘rigged,’ the failure of Speaker Ryan and Senator McConnell to affirm the fairness of our democratic process and condemn Donald Trump’s comments is complicity.
The damage that Donald Trump can do isn’t completely constrained by the ballot box. He’s also eroding the basic ideas that have held the nation together since its founding. In their silence, McConnell and Ryan are only increasing that damage.
Trump may see some personal benefit in the nation’s unraveling, but Republican leadership should at least drop their Party-First, America Last priorities long enough to agree with Democrats on this one.
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