Donald Trump appears to be headed toward an epic loss on Election Day, he knows it, and he has spent the last several weeks crying foul at his every rally, his every debate, his every press event. His refusal to accept the outcome and flirtation with a revolt of his dismayed masses is now tearing at the heart of our democracy both at home and abroad. Alexander Burns writes:
Nicholas Burns, a former undersecretary of state under George W. Bush, said Mr. Trump’s refusal to say he would respect the outcome of the presidential race was a “colossal mistake” that could damage American prestige abroad.
“I don’t think we’ve had a serious national leader say that since the Confederate leaders of 1860 who refused to accept the election of Lincoln,” he said. [...] “What many if not most foreigners admire about us, about the United States, is the durability of our democracy and the fact that we alternate power,” Mr. Burns said.
And then there's this reflection from Bill Daley, former Obama White House chief of staff and chair the Gore campaign during the Florida recount. He knows a little something about facilitating peaceful transitions of power.
On election night, Mr. Daley said, “he could be tweeting at 3 in the morning and trying to undercut the new administration coming in.”
Forget about the 3 AM phone call, it could be the 3 AM text heard ‘round the world.
And just to keep in mind how unprecedented it is for Trump to attack the process before that process has actually played out.
The United States has endured contested election results, most recently in 2000, but historians and political experts could recall no case of a presidential nominee attacking the electoral process, with no apparent instigation or factual basis, with weeks until Election Day, as Mr. Trump is doing now.
Even the Confederate states rejected the election result after it happened, not before.