Donald Trump again created controversy on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, causing trouble even in the ranks of the Republicans.
During a press conference, the President of the United States refused to say that he was committed to a peaceful transfer of power in the event of a defeat on November 3.
“We'll see what happens,” he replied very evasively to a journalist who asked him the question.
He added immediately that he was firmly opposed to the remote voting project which he considers a source of potential fraud: "Let's get rid of these ballots and it will be very peaceful," he added.
Comments that were corrected by White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany, who a few hours later said: “The President will accept the results of a free and fair election.
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In the context of a strong resurgence of Covid-19 in the United States, it is not excluded that voters who wish to be able to vote remotely in order to avoid promoting contamination.
However, Donald Trump has criticized this solution several times in recent weeks, since the publication of numerous studies showing that such a method of election would promote a Democratic victory.
Thus, it is estimated that 80% of voters in favor of the outgoing President would prefer to go to the polls while around 60% of supporters of Democratic candidate Joe Biden would be more inclined to vote remotely.
If the mail vote were indeed applied, Trump knows his chances of victory would be seriously diminished, even as recent polls announce him losing to his Democratic rival.
Republican senators are walking on eggshells
The ambiguity of these statements did not fail to make the American political scene react.
Joe Biden thus rebelled against the behavior of his opponent, qualifying his remarks as "irrational".
In the Republican camp too, we wonder.
Mitt Romney, a former 2012 presidential candidate and known to be hostile to the policies of Donald Trump, shared his concerns and outrage: “The peaceful transfer of power is fundamental to our democracy;
without it, it is Belarus.
Any suggestion by a president that he can evade this constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable, ”he said.
Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power;
without that, there is Belarus.
Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable.
- Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) September 24, 2020
For his part, Mitch McConnell, the president of the Republican majority in the Senate, tried to calm the controversy by wanting to be reassuring: he thus affirmed Thursday afternoon "that there will be a transition in good order, like all four years since 1792 ”, and guaranteed that“ the winner of the November 3 election will be invested on January 20 ”.
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Either way, Donald Trump's statement suggests that the upcoming election is likely to be contested, and that a legal battle could erupt to determine the outcome of the vote, leaving the Supreme Court with the power to decide. a possible dispute.
This perspective highlights the immense power at the disposal of the highest court in the United States, as Donald Trump must soon appoint the successor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the nine judges who constitutes it, who died last Friday.
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