I gasped when Donald Trump said he would not necessarily accept the results of the election. I really did not think, even after he had talked about “rigged” elections for some time now, even after all the disgustingly low things that he has done, that Trump would not say that he would accept defeat.
The question should not have to be asked. We take for granted that anyone running for President has a basic respect for the Constitution and our shared democratic values. We do not usually ask this question any more than we would ask if a candidate believes in the separation of powers. It is assumed as a given.
What does it mean for Donald Trump to say this? We all understand that a close election might go to the courts, as happened in 2000. Again, that is not something that normally has to be said. But to say that after an appeal to the court you would still contest the decision, implies a threat. It implies violence because there is no other peaceful recourse beyond legal remedies.
One lesson this election is teaching us is that we toss the term “disqualifying” around perhaps a bit too loosely when we talk about Presidential candidates. But this disdain for our shared values really should be disqualifying in a very basic sense. If we, the voters, were evaluating the Presidency like a job application, I would hope that we would toss this resume in the trash without even reading the rest of it.
Here’s a now unlikely scenario. What if Trump were to be elected, and, four years in the future, lose a close reelection? Could we trust him then to abide by the outcome? If he did not, or even hinted that he might not, then we would have a situation that is not only horrifying but also a national crisis.
Of course birtherism was rooted in racism, but it also displayed a callous disregard for our system of law. It shows that Donald Trump thinks he alone should decide who should be President.
Last night, Trump seemed to challenge the legitimacy of Clinton presidency as well, saying that Clinton “should not be allowed” to be President. He has already threatened to jail her. Of course demanding Obama’s birth certificate was always a pretext, but now we see that it is a pretext for misogyny as well as racism, and for all his talk of law and order, a pretext for lawlessness.
All of this shows Trump’s complete disregard for the one thing the President is sworn to protect above all else— the Constitution of the United States of America. If he does not respect the principle of a peaceful transfer of power, perhaps he will decide, if elected, that the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution is also somehow invalid. Down this road, democracy unravels.
Disqualifying is not a strong enough a word for this betrayal of democracy. I hesitate to use another term that has long been abused, but this is— let’s say it— unAmerican.