NEW YORK–(ENEWSPF)–October 20, 2016. Last night at the final presidential debate, Donald Trump reiterated his reckless and unprecedented claim that the election will be “rigged” and that he might not accept election results if he loses. This afternoon, he doubled down.
President Obama may have summed it up best: “stop whining … if you start whining before the game’s even over, if whenever things are going badly for you and you lose, you start blaming somebody else, then you don’t have what it takes to be in this job.” However, the President is not the only critic of Trump – editorial boards from coast-to-coast have denounced his claim and noted that Trump’s accusations of widespread fraud are “dangerous” and “outrageous.”
NATIONAL EDITORIAL BOARDS
National Review: No, the Election Isn’t Rigged “As a factual matter, this is, of course, bunk. The electoral process, from bottom to top, is managed by citizens and governed by a dense body of election law. Vote-counting is heavily scrutinized by party officials and independent monitors, and irregularities are subject to legal challenge. The voting equipment used is tested prior to Election Day and carefully monitored before, during, and after. None of this is to say that voter fraud does not exist, or that errors don’t occasionally affect vote totals. But to “rig” an election at the national scale would require logistical know-how seen only in Hollywood capers”
New York Times: Shameful Silence On Donald Trump’s Lies About Vote-Rigging “The most frightening example is Mr. Trump’s frenzied claim that the presidential election is being ‘rigged’ against him — a claim he has ramped up as his chances of winning the presidency have gone down. Instead of disavowing this absurdity outright, Republican leaders sit by in spineless silence. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and Paul Ryan, the speaker of the House, are the two most powerful Republicans in the country and should be willing to put the national interest above their own. Both know full well that there is no ‘rigging,’ and yet between them they have managed one tepid response to Mr. Trump’s outrageous accusations.”
Los Angeles Times: Trump’s Talk Of A ‘Rigged’ Election Is Dangerous Demagoguery “But Trump also is targeting the very political system in which he is competing for the presidency. He is claiming that this election is ‘rigged’ — in the literal sense that the machinery of the electoral process will be manipulated to his disadvantage and that the results will be tainted by fraud. This is dangerous demagoguery, even for Trump. There is no need to attach such qualifications, because Trump’s claim of large-scale voter fraud is preposterous. Trump is casually undermining — and with no evidence — the presumption that elections are fair and that their outcome must be respected by losers and their supporters. That assumption in turn makes possible the peaceful transition of power and respect for the rule of law on which this country long has prided itself.”
USA Today: Trump’s Charges “Reckless” and Unsubstantiated “With his poll numbers slipping and sexual allegations against him mounting, Donald Trump has escalated his wild charges that voter fraud and news media bias have “rigged” the entire presidential election against him. “Of course there is large scale voter fraud happening on and before Election Day,” Trump tweeted on Monday. “Why do Republican leaders deny what is going on?” Why? Perhaps because there’s no evidence that it is actually happening, and because GOP leaders recognize how corrosive these outbursts are to American democracy.”
Washington Post: Trump Poses An Unprecedented Threat To The Peaceful Transition Of Power “WHAT HAS allowed the United States to last for so long as a democracy, when so many other countries have failed? There are many factors, but none is more fundamental than this: When we hold elections, the losing party acknowledges the legitimacy of the winner, and the winner allows the loser to survive to fight another day. Now, for the first time in modern history, a major-party candidate rejects both sides of that equation. If he loses, Donald Trump says, it will be due to cheating that makes the result illegitimate. If he wins, he will imprison his defeated opponent. Many Americans may not have given much thought to what a breathtaking departure this represents, because until now we have had the luxury of never having to think about such things. We have been able to take for granted the quadrennial peaceful transition of power.”
REGIONAL AND LOCAL EDITORIAL BOARDS
Beaumont Enterprise: False claims of rigged election insult voters “Trump has been claiming that for some time, along with his belief – with zero proof – that widespread voter fraud is going on now and will continue on Election Day. That kind of loose talk is corrosive and cynical. It undermines public confidence in the world’s oldest and most successful democracy.”
Boston Herald: Rigging’ for fun, profit “For starters, of course, Trump’s ‘rigged election’ mantra does a grave disservice to the thousands of state and local officials who are actually the folks who make this electoral system work — including states run by 30 Republican governors. Not surprisingly some aren’t so thrilled with the implications of Trump’s charges.”
Cleveland Plain Dealer: Donald Trump’s Dangerous Vote-Rigging Claims A List-Ditch Grasp At The Presidency “Donald Trump’s ludicrous claims – without a shred of evidence – that 2016’s presidential election will be rigged thanks to collusion between Democrats and the media and monkey business at the polls would be merely contemptible were they not so dangerous. What Trump is doing — beyond signaling that he expects to lose — is to attack the basis of American self-government: faith in free and secret elections. That is reckless in the extreme, especially as our country endures what may be its most contentious presidential election since 1968.”
Cincinnati Enquirer: Trump is over the top and out of bounds “Donald Trump’s claims of a rigged presidential election aren’t only unprecedented and irresponsible. They are dangerous. He crossed yet another line during Wednesday’s final debate when he doubled down by refusing to say if he would honor the election results and concede to Hillary Clinton if he lost.”
Columbus Dispatch: Undermining voter’s faith “Now comes Donald Trump, recycling the “voter fraud” trope to predict that the November election is being rigged. Judging by a recent survey, a majority of Republicans believe this is possible … Trump’s claims of a rigged election might simply be a stratagem to explain away a defeat if he is the loser on Nov. 8. But it is a dangerous stratagem, because some of his supporters might regard such a loss as an excuse for violence.”
Detroit Free Press: Casting doubt on election imperils American system “That Republican nominee Donald Trump has suggested that American elections are rigged is an accusation barely worth addressing. Aside from the sheer scope of such an endeavor – voting in Michigan, for example, is conducted by city and township clerks, tabulated by machines that are not connected to the internet – there is simply no evidence that intentional voter fraud is a serious problem.”
News & Observer: Trump’s myth of ‘rigging’ elections “Should Republican Donald Trump lose to Democrat Hillary Clinton, it’s clear the schoolyard bully will claim a fix. Trump’s repeatedly talking about the election being rigged. His bluster has been headed in that direction since he started to head down in the polls as his horrific sexist comments on a tape were revealed. To already be talking about a rigged election isn’t just bulling the electorate or showing an absence of basic civility, it’s both factually incorrect and dangerous to the integrity of the American election system in the eyes of the world.”
San Francisco Chronicle: Trump’s Crazy Talk About ‘Rigged Election “Donald Trump is taking his sinking campaign in a more destructive direction. He’s throwing out wild claims of a media conspiracy, phony polls and lying sex abuse accusers, all directed at stealing the election from him. It’s more than rallying his frantic base. It carries the potential for a soured and furious aftermath that could poison chances for accepting democratic change. Trump’s army is being primed to disown the results.”
Star-Ledger: When Will Republicans Condemn Trump’s Assault On Democracy? “ … Majority of Republicans are still inclined to believe Trump’s claim that the real reason he is losing is because of a rigged election. Two thirds of them now fear their votes will not be counted, according to an Associated Press poll last month. That’s scary.Claiming it’s impossible to grope anyone on an airplane because there’s an arm rest between the seats is laughable. Claiming the election is being rigged because of widespread voter fraud is not … He has no evidence of this. Yet he still lashed out at the few Republicans who dared challenge him yesterday, calling them ‘naïve.’”
Source: http://hillaryforamerica.com
