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Trump sends a signal to his supporters if Biden wins the election

2020-09-25T02:50:37.145Z


Trump's refusal to guarantee a peaceful transition if he loses to Biden brings the US into a dark place, in a year of tension.


Trump: "America will never be a socialist or communist country" 1:28

(CNN) ––

President Donald Trump's refusal on Wednesday to guarantee a peaceful transition of power if he loses to Joe Biden in the November elections takes the United States into a dark place.

Right in a year of incendiary political tensions.

Trump's latest attack on the perfectly legitimate vote-by-mail on Wednesday showed his intransigence.

Which, in turn, represents a serious threat to the democratic continuity that has underpinned almost 250 years of Republican government.

  • MIRA: Trump refuses to commit to a peaceful transition of power after elections

Well, we're going to have to see what happens.

You know I have complained a lot about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.

This is how Trump responded to the question of whether he would commit to a peaceful transition.

Get rid of the ballots and you have a very… there will be no transition frankly.

There will be a continuation, "he added.

The risks of Trump's comments on the election with Biden

The president's comments pose the risk of dealing another blow to an election in which he has been behind Biden and which he has tainted endlessly.

In addition, they could send their supporters a signal on how to react if the Democratic candidate prevails in 41 days.

That possibility is especially dangerous given last summer's racial and social unrest.

Even more so when that agitation broke out again on Wednesday night and the police reported that two officers were shot in Louisville, Kentucky, amid protests.

The protests came after two police officers were not charged in the death of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed black woman.

  • READ: OPINION |

    Donald Trump just told us that our democracy is at risk

Additionally, Trump issued another near-simultaneous warning on Wednesday.

The president said he believes the Supreme Court will end up deciding the elections.

Which also increases the risk of a constitutional mess that is likely worse than the disputed 2000 ballots.

Then his rhetoric escalated when, once again, he politicized the effort to quell the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump threatened to invalidate regulators on the matter of whether a newly developed vaccine would be safe.

What was treated in a highly irregular movement.

Taken together, his undemocratic instincts and prioritizing his own political goals amid a national emergency show that he does not plan to let anything stop him from winning a second term.

Not even the health of Americans, the sanctity of elections, or the reputation of the Supreme Court.

The fight for the Supreme Court

His comments also dumped gasoline on an already raging battle for the replacement of the late Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Meanwhile, they also threatened to drag the Supreme Court further into politics, in a way that could destroy its legitimacy among millions of Americans.

On Thursday morning, the president diverted attention when asked about his refusal to commit to a peaceful transition.

Trump argued that it is a "double standard," noting Hillary Clinton's comments that Biden should not concede if the election is closed.

Trump booed as he pays tribute to Ginsburg 2:16

Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade led Trump to the question that he did not "mean" that he would never leave office, but would wait for the Supreme Court to rule, if necessary.

Trump then responded, "I agree with that, but I think we have a long way to go before we get there."

And he completed: "These ballots are a horror story."

The president's recent attempts to create an uproar do not come alone.

They come amid new efforts to subvert traditional mechanisms of government for their own benefit.

What has become an almost daily ritual.

Rejection of science in the pandemic

There were also new signs of his rejection of the solid science needed to deal with the worst public health emergency in 100 years.

Trump pushes a false reality that covid-19 is disappearing, when there are alarms of a possible second wave in winter.

CNN also reported that Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the coronavirus task force and a globally respected public health professional, is the latest government expert to be sidelined by a White House that trades in lies and political expediency instead of the national interest.

The revelations, coming from inside the West Wing, came a day after the US recorded 200,000 deaths from coronavirus.

And they show how the White House effort to end the crisis has been systematically repurposed for Trump's hopes of a second term.

All in one of the most selfish but dramatic manipulations of presidential influence in modern memory.

  • LEE: Trump claims that the White House may overrule the FDA's attempt to tighten the guidelines for the coronavirus vaccine

Trump has spent years weaponizing the executive branch for his political and personal gain.

After all, he faced impeachment for trying to get Ukraine to interfere in the elections.

In addition, he has removed from his government qualified and professional officials who challenge his own distorted view of reality.

But there is a feeling, more palpable by the day, that Trump is leading America into a dangerous place in the weeks leading up to the election.

Also that the most tense and divisive days in many years could be at hand, as he tries everything in his power, and beyond, to stay in the White House.

Trump again targets election fairness with Biden

Even before Trump's destabilizing comments, there was already nervousness in Washington.

Precisely, because of the growing risks of an imminent election and the sudden vacancy in the Supreme Court.

Which, in turn, promises the most controversial confirmation in years.

Even by the standards of previous contests by those appointed to the high court.

Trump is within his right to appoint a replacement for Ginsburg.

Decision that will enshrine an unassailable conservative majority in the Supreme Court, potentially for decades.

Nor is there anything stopping the Senate Republican majority from seeking to confirm its candidate.

This, despite the clear hypocrisy of the Republican Party, after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to confirm then-President Barack Obama's third candidate in a presidential election year.

But the president's suggestion that the Supreme Court could be convened to decide the elections threatens to unleash new fury over the appointment process.

If a candidate is proposed in the next few weeks, there will be the possibility that a new judge - recently committed to Trump for a life appointment - could be called to rule on the political destiny of the president in a clear and evident conflict of interest.

Effects of Trump taking the vote against Biden to the Supreme Court

Now the possibility of a bitter aftermath to the elections seems very real.

Precisely because of the tendency of this government to resort to questionable legal actions.

In addition to his record of expedited cases before the Supreme Court.

"I think this will end up in the Supreme Court and I think it is very important that we have nine justices," Trump said, referring to the election and his false claims that voting by mail is a Democratic conspiracy.

Voting by mail is attractive to many Americans amid the pandemic.

Trump said it is better if a ninth judge was in office before the election.

The reason?

"I believe that this fraud that the Democrats are promoting is a fraud, this fraud will be before the Supreme Court of the United States.

And I think having a four to four situation is not a good situation if you understand it.

It was surprising to see a president so outspoken about an apparent plan to invalidate his electoral duel with Biden, if he does not win the Electoral College.

Biden and Trump are in virtual tie in 2 key states 1:15

Trump has repeatedly attacked good governance, constitutional tradition, respect for the rules and customs of the presidency.

These actions can seem arcane.

It doesn't even mean much to pandemic Americans, who face massive job losses and have children trapped at home because school is closed.

Additionally, the president's defenders often accuse the media of taking his statements too literally.

But Trump's past actions and his relentless attack on the election leave little doubt that his words are serious.

Also his threat to launch an unprecedented attack on American democracy to stay in power if Biden wins.

If successful in such an attempt, the United States would suffer historical damage to its old political system.

Trump acts to suppress the truth about the pandemic

The president's comments on the election overshadowed another extraordinary day in a White House showing his few limits to what he will do to get Trump a second term.

In recent days, the president has declared that the US is "getting over" the pandemic.

Despite experts warning that a second wave of infections could arrive on an already high base.

In addition to causing tens of thousands of deaths more.

While Trump continues to hold packed rallies that carry a high risk of infection for his followers and the people with whom they will share in the following days.

At the same time, he insists that all schools should open.

  • MIRA: House Democrats present a reform package aimed at curbing Trump's actions

CNN's Jim Acosta reported Wednesday on the situation with Birx, who was once the face of the coronavirus response.

The doctor has told people around her that she is "distressed" with the direction of the task force.

She also believes that the current state of the pandemic response is a nightmare.

Birx believes that Dr. Scott Atlas, a recent addition to the task force, is a detrimental influence on Trump, as he is giving him misinformation about the effectiveness of face masks.

"The president has found someone who agrees with what he wants to believe," a source close to Birx said of her views on Atlas's relationship with Trump.

"There is no doubt that (Birx) feels that her role has been diminished."

Trump accuses FDA of a political measure

Atlas denied that Birx was distraught.

But it showed in real time how the White House has relied on CDC experts in ways that benefit Trump's political narrative.

In the last scolded Dr. Robert Redfield, Atlas said the agency "misstated something," when Redfield noted that 90% of Americans were still susceptible to the coronavirus.

The political interference also spread to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with a response from Trump.

The remarks came after reports that the agency was considering stricter standards for a COVID-19 vaccine.

This is to ensure that the volunteers of the clinical trials did not know side effects.

Such a decision would make approval of a vaccine almost impossible before the election.

Which also frustrates Trump's hopes of announcing the "October surprise."

“We are analyzing that.

It has to be approved by the White House, "Trump said.

He also said that companies that make vaccines have done well.

Later, he accused the FDA of a political measure.

I don't see any reason why it should be delayed any longer.

Because if they delay a week or two weeks or three weeks, you know, you're talking about many lives, "he added.

  • LEE: FDA is considering authorization rules that would leave coronavirus vaccine approval for long after Election Day

Trump has repeatedly raised unproven COVID-19 therapies.

And his attitude threatens the guarantees that medical science has long supported, which tests vaccines in multi-stage, peer-reviewed trials.

It could also further affect public confidence in the potential vaccine, the best chance to end the pandemic.

Regardless of how the data on these two questions is interpreted, his comments sparked another torrent of confusion about the government's pandemic response.

A journalist challenged Atlas on the multiple discrepancies between the White House and the CDC.

The official, whose background is in neuroradiology, responded harshly: "You are supposed to believe in science and I am telling you the science."

2020 United States Elections Joe Biden Vote by Mail

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-09-25

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