Thread: 1/ When I warn that Trump might not accept an electoral loss, i get messages from Trump reporters saying, "So? Hillary Clinton never accepted her 2016 loss." But this misunderstands the nature of Trump's threats not to accept the 2020 election results.
2/ Hillary Clinton didn't LIKE the election results in 2016, & she objected to the fact that the winner of the popular vote didn't become president... in that sense, it's fair to say she did not accept the 2016 results as legitimate (&many of her supporters felt the same). BUT...
3/ She didn't demand that her supporters arm themselves and prevent Trump's inauguration... she didn't tell her supporters in gov't political appointee positions to refuse to vacate their jobs...
4/ She didn't ask President Obama to invoke the Insurrection Act to send active duty military troops to Republican regions to suppress pro-Trump protests, or to refuse to step down, or refuse to provide the Trump campaign with transition briefings...
5/ Which is to say, in every way that counts from the perspective of political stability, she DID "accept" the election results, as did Pres Obama, who had the power to make a transfer of power to Trump difficult/impossible, but instead participated in a normal transition....
6/ Trump, however, appears to be suggesting that he would literally not accept a vote that goes against him - that he will seek to delay the election; seek to undermine public confidence in mail in ballots; seek to stop or delay or maniupulate the vote counting....
7/ And potentially even use the awesome powers of federal law enforcement and the US military to suppress dissent, suppress peaceful protests and even interfere in the voting or counting of votes. That is what I am concerned about.
8/ And that would be a terrible threat to democracy and the rule of law - in fact, a terrible threat to the stability and continuity of the union itself.
9/ You don't have to be a democrat to think that would be awful - you just have to be someone, Dem or GOP, who cares about whether we have a free and fair election in November, and who cares about a peaceful transfer of power that accords with the will of the American people
10/ As expressed through the ballot box. "Accepting" the election results doesn't require anyone to LIKE the results - it just requires playing by the rules presidential candidates from both parties have accepted for 150 years.
11/ Is Donald Trump prepared to do that? It's hard to have much confidence that he is. If he is truly confident that he can win the support of a majority of Americans, he should make his case to the American public
12/ instead of doing his best to undermine public confidence in the electoral process.
13/ In every way that matters, Clinton and Obama accepted the 2016 election results. Will Trump do the same in 2020?
