Election Watch Blog: 19 Days and Counting: Last night's historic precedent, voter fraud, who can be funny tonight?
Linda Peek Schacht |
— By Linda Peek Schacht, leader-in-residence and veteran political communicator in White House, the Congress and presidential campaigns
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton faced off last night in Las Vegas. Thanks to moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News, this was the most substantive of the three debates.
But that is not why it will be remembered and studied fifty years from now, as one historian has suggested.
I suggested yesterday that there was one question Chris Wallace had to ask, in the face of assertions that the elections were “rigged”. He asked that question. He helpfully explained it in the context of the over 200-year tradition supporting the peaceful transfer of power, the underpinning of our country’s success as a democracy.
He asked Donald Trump if he lost the election, would he accept the results, concede to the winner of the Presidential race and call for his supporters to rally around the new President.
In an unprecedented move, Mr. Trump became the first major party candidate in our country’s history to state that he would not commit to concede if he lost the election. There was an audible gasp in the room when he gave his first answer “ I will look at it at the time. I’m not looking at anything now. I will look at it at the time…”
Chris Wallace threw him a lifeline setting it up in the peaceful transition of power context and ending his question with “… and the loser concedes to the winner and the country comes together in part for the good of the country. Are you saying you’re not prepared now to commit to that principle?” Mr. Trump doubled down: “What I’m saying is that I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense. OK?”
His surrogates tried to spin it by drawing comparisons to the 2000 Florida recount of the Bush-Gore presidential showdown. This led Pulitzer-Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham, author of biographies of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson, to take to Twitter with “ It’s wrong –historically, factually, pick your adverb—to invoke Gore and Florida as analogous to what Trump said tonight. So please stop.”
Thursday, Mr. Trump complicated the issue further, casting more doubt on the legitimacy of the electoral process, by saying he will accept the results of the election-- if he wins, a caveat that underscores his debate comments. (And later today Bloomberg reported that Mr. Trump said he would accept a “clear election result” in November.)
Senator John McCain, who made his own concession to President Obama in 2008, reacted. “A concession isn’t just an exercise in graciousness. It is an act of respect for the will of the American people, a respect that is every American leader’s first responsibility.”
No matter your politics, Mr. Trump’s comments should disturb you.
The sanctity of the ballot box and the integrity of our electoral process are not partisan issues; they are the foundation of our democracy.
Unfounded assertions of massive, systemic fraud are destructive of the public trust. Here’s a Mr. Trump tweet from October 17, 2016: “ Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before election day.”
This week, the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy put out a roundup of academic research on voter fraud and claims whether or not a US presidential election could be stolen with falsified ballots. Along with significant data on the rare cases of fraud, it offers information on voter beliefs and the effect of voter ID laws. I recommend it. Click here to read it.
And now, for supposed comic relief, the candidates share the stage at the Al Smith dinner in New York City tonight. The tradition is that they will speak with light humor about themselves and their opponent. Should be interesting….