President Barack Obama slammed Donald Trump for his insistence that he might not accept the election result, saying the Republican presidential nominee’s attempt to “sow the seeds of doubt” about the integrity of elections is “dangerous” and “undermines our democracy”.
“When you suggest rigging or fraud, without a shred of evidence, when last night at the debate, Trump becomes the first major party nominee in American history to suggest that he will not concede, despite losing the vote, and then says today that he will accept the results if he wins, that is not a joking matter,” Obama said at an election rally in Florida.
“Most of the Republicans have acknowledged that there is no way to rig an election in a country this big. I don’t know if Trump has ever been to an actual polling place where you have Democrats and Republicans who are in charge of taking the votes,” he said at the rally yesterday.
Trump’s allegations, Obama said, are more than just the usual standard lie. “That is dangerous because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people’s minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. Then you are doing the work of our adversaries for them,” he said.
“Because our democracy depends on people knowing that their vote matters; that those who occupy the seats of power were chosen by the people. Even when your preferred candidate loses, even when you are the one who is running and you lose, you have got to see the bigger picture and say that here in America, we believe in democracy, and we accept the will of the people,” the president said.
From Agencies, Feature image courtesy nymag
