No one knows how to handle what might be about to hit on Nov. 9.
Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to lose on Nov. 8, refuse to concede the election, and teeter the country into an unprecedented crisis of faith in government. Republicans and Democrats, in Washington and beyond, fear that the aftermath of the 2016 election will create a festering infection in the already deep and lasting wound that the campaign is leaving on America. And, they say, only Republican leaders who speak up will have any chance of stopping it.
"Polls close, but can you believe I lost large numbers of women voters based on made up events THAT NEVER HAPPENED. Media rigging election!" Trump tweeted Sunday morning in response to the latest round of numbers showing him behind.
Even after the election, many Democrats and Republicans fear, Trump could keep showing up at rallies. He’s all but certain to keep up his near-constant claim of a “rigged election” on Twitter and in friendly news interviews, casting doubts and stoking a toxicity that, at least as of now, relatively few in his party have explicitly rejected.
If Clinton does win, most agree that the immediate burden will likely fall on Republican leaders—particularly House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—to quickly and vocally insist on the legitimacy of her election.
“What this would be is an assault on the foundations of the long established traditions of the country, an assault on democracy, vandalizing it,” said Steve Schmidt, the Republican strategist who led John McCain’s 2008 campaign. “It would be incumbent finally on national leaders in the Republican Party to speak clearly, unequivocally about not just the situation, but the totality of it.”
“If he never calls to concede, he’ll go down as one of the sorest of sore losers,” Fleischer said, but “if Donald Trump loses and fights the outcome, it will make many of his followers, which means millions of people, question the legitimacy of our American government. That’s destructive and corrosive.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-rigged-elections-republicans-229846#ixzz4NGn9b0cz
Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to lose on Nov. 8, refuse to concede the election, and teeter the country into an unprecedented crisis of faith in government. Republicans and Democrats, in Washington and beyond, fear that the aftermath of the 2016 election will create a festering infection in the already deep and lasting wound that the campaign is leaving on America. And, they say, only Republican leaders who speak up will have any chance of stopping it.
"Polls close, but can you believe I lost large numbers of women voters based on made up events THAT NEVER HAPPENED. Media rigging election!" Trump tweeted Sunday morning in response to the latest round of numbers showing him behind.
Even after the election, many Democrats and Republicans fear, Trump could keep showing up at rallies. He’s all but certain to keep up his near-constant claim of a “rigged election” on Twitter and in friendly news interviews, casting doubts and stoking a toxicity that, at least as of now, relatively few in his party have explicitly rejected.
If Clinton does win, most agree that the immediate burden will likely fall on Republican leaders—particularly House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—to quickly and vocally insist on the legitimacy of her election.
“What this would be is an assault on the foundations of the long established traditions of the country, an assault on democracy, vandalizing it,” said Steve Schmidt, the Republican strategist who led John McCain’s 2008 campaign. “It would be incumbent finally on national leaders in the Republican Party to speak clearly, unequivocally about not just the situation, but the totality of it.”
“If he never calls to concede, he’ll go down as one of the sorest of sore losers,” Fleischer said, but “if Donald Trump loses and fights the outcome, it will make many of his followers, which means millions of people, question the legitimacy of our American government. That’s destructive and corrosive.”
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-rigged-elections-republicans-229846#ixzz4NGn9b0cz
