As the 2020 presidential election has dragged on for days — the protracted result of the
continued count of an unprecedented number of mail-in ballots due to voters' concerns
about the coronavirus pandemic — incumbent president Donald Trump unsurprisingly cries
foul play.
In the wee-morning hours of November 4, the president made a speech from the White House
prematurely declaring victory.
"We will win this, and as far as I'm concerned, we already have won it."
But then as states continued to count votes, Trump saw his lead slipping away in key states.
He paradoxically called for some to stop counting and others to continue, depending on his standing
at the time.
According to Business Insider, Trump was advised by his aides that the characteristically impulsive
cry to "stop the count" would have actually given the election to Democratic challenger
Joe Biden, had election officials across the country heeded his call.
In the months leading up to election day, Trump repeatedly circulated the unverified
claims that mail-in voting would be rife with fraud. According to the BBC, he has tweeted
over 70 times about what he considered to be the unreliability of mail-in voting, voter
fraud, or otherwise "rigged" elections since April. But as numerous news organizations
have repeatedly pointed out, studies consistently show that voter fraud is extremely rare.
According to USA Today, no losing presidential candidate in modern history has refused to
concede defeat once the numbers have come in, but there is also no law requiring a concession.
It's actually up to the losing candidate to be a good sport and admit defeat. Shannon
writes:
"Without a concession, usually hidden parts of the election process — such as the inner
workings of the Electoral College — could be ripped open and used to decide the election
in an unprecedented way. It would mean a race could be headed for a result decided by the
courts or by obscure parts of the law."
The president has already stoked fears that he won't leave office if he loses. He refused
to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when asked about the possibility at a press
briefing in September.
"We're going to have to see what happens, you know that. I've been complaining very
strongly about the ballots, and the ballots are a disaster."
According to Live Science, no sitting president has ever rejected the results of an election.
Contests in 1824 and 1876 went to the House of Representatives after neither candidate
came away with a majority in the electoral college, but no one has ever actually refused
to leave the White House.
For centuries, it's been little more than faith in institutions that has ensured the
peaceful transfer of power. History professor Jonathan Gienapp told Stanford News in October
that the Constitution does not require a losing incumbent president to vacate the office:
"We have institutions that can be called upon to arbitrate disputes [...] but the safeguards
that will decide matters are more political than constitutional. It may fall to elected
political leaders [...] to work out some sort of compromise. Or [...] the people will need
to exercise their fundamental right to assemble and protest."
The Biden campaign has said it's not worried about Trump refusing to step down if he loses
the race. The New York Times reported on November 6 that the campaign reiterated its statement
from July that the American people would ultimately decide the election, adding:
"And the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the
White House."
And Trump's attempts to cry foul could end up backfiring on him.
The New York Times reported that officials from his own party reacted in very different
ways. Some, including members of his family, supported the president's baseless claims
of fraud, while others reprimanded him for questioning the country's time-tested institutions.
Republican Senators Pat Toomey and Mitt Romney, to name two, directly censured him. Romney
said that Trump has the right to request recounts of tight races and present valid proof of
fraud if he has it, but added,
"[Trump] is wrong to say that the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen — doing so
damages the cause of freedom here and around the world, weakens the institutions that lie
at the foundation of the Republic, and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions."
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