Say it’s Nov. 4, or whenever enough votes are counted to make the presidential election results clear — and Donald Trump loses.
What will he do?
It’s a question that grows more urgent with each passing day, and one White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked — twice — at a briefing on Wednesday.
Twice, McEnany refused to say.
“Is the president saying if he doesn’t win this election that he will not accept the results, unless he wins?” one reporter asked.
“The president has always said he’ll see what happens, and make a determination in the aftermath,” she replied, ignoring the direct question. “He wants a free election, a fair election, and he wants confidence in the results of the election.”
Trump has said repeatedly that an election in which many votes are cast by mail will be “rigged” — and he has left open the key question: if he loses to Joe Biden, no matter how many mail-in ballots are involved, will he leave the White House when Biden is inaugurated in January?
It’s important to note that Trump also says that the only way he can lose is if the election is rigged.
And given his lifelong “rules are for other guys” attitude, on disturbing display for the past three and a half years, Americans can only wonder if a crisis even more damaging to U.S. democracy than any before — is just months away.
