"There have been 19 presidential elections in my lifetime. In every one, the losing candidates accepted the results as lawful, with one exception: Donald Trump."
"Nixon lost the 1960 election to John F. #Kennedy by a razor-thin margin, and stories circulated at the time about vote theft in some states. #Nixon accepted the results.
"For more than two months after Election Day, [Trump] spread the #lie that he had won when it was obvious to any fair-minded person that his claims were false. He still repeats this falsehood.
"Trump is laying the groundwork for a repeat of the 2020 post-election debacle.
He has managed to get a swath of the country to believe that Biden can’t be reelected without cheating. It follows, at least in the minds of Trump and his supporters, that if he doesn’t win in November, the election would have been unfair and its result — Biden’s reelection — illegitimate." https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/24/vote-insurrection-trump-biden-jan-6-again/
"And then what? On #Jan6 2021, thousands stormed the #Capitol because #Trump convinced them the #election had been stolen.
They smashed through doors and windows and disrupted the House and Senate chambers to #StopTheSteal and obstruct #Congress from exercising its constitutional responsibility to certify electoral votes.
They failed, thanks to D.C. police and #US Capitol officers who put their lives on the line.
"Donald J. #Trump has baselessly and publicly cast doubt about the fairness of the #2024election about once a day, on average, since he announced his candidacy for #president...
"Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election had historic consequences. The so-called #BigLie — Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen from him — led to the #Jan6 2021 #insurrection...
"“This is a rigged deal, just as the 2020 election was rigged, and we can’t let them get away with it,” Trump said on Nov. 18, 2022, THREE DAYS after announcing his 2024 candidacy...
"Trump has adapted the specifics of his accusations with each of the three election cycles. But... his pattern of discourse has followed the same contours. He sows doubt about the legitimacy of the #election, and then begins to capitalize on that doubt by alluding to not necessarily accepting the election results — unless, of course, he wins.
This rhetorical strategy — heads, I win; tails, you cheated — is a beloved one for #Trump that predates even his time as a presidential candidate"
"before he officially became the Republican presidential nominee in 2016, he began to float the possibility that the primary contest was, as he said, “rigged..."
By May of that year, #Trump spoke plainly about why he had stashed the argument away. “You’ve been hearing me say it’s a rigged system,” he said, “but now I don’t say it anymore because I won.”
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“I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win,” Trump said at a rally in 2016"
"About 6 weeks before Election Day in 2020, #Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power...
This time... half a year before #Election Day 2024 — and after more than a year of pushing the “election interference” line... Trump again placed conditions on his acceptance of election results.
“If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results,” he said in a May 1 interview... “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”