US President Donald Trump has refused to pledge to peacefully hand over power if he loses the elections, causing concern to the American street and the American and Western media that anticipate scenarios of chaos if Trump refuses to leave the White House.
The story began when Trump refused, in his statements on Wednesday, to pledge to hand over power peacefully if he lost the elections scheduled for next November 3, and Trump responded to a question about whether the president would commit to a peaceful transfer of power, regardless of the election result between him and his rival. Democrat Joe Biden, saying: “I complain very strongly about the polling process, and mail voting is a disaster of course.” Rather, there will be a very peaceful continuity. “
Trump had also refused to pledge to accept the results of the last elections in front of his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton, but in the end he won the electoral college votes, despite losing the popular vote in her favor, and Clinton accepted the defeat, and announced her handover.
But the situation is radically different this time, because due to the outbreak of the Corona epidemic that has killed more than 200 thousand Americans and infected more than 7 million and 145 thousand infections, dependence on voting by mail will increase this time in a huge way that has not happened before in the history of the country, and Trump repeats throughout Time that the mail vote is a “massive fraud” for the Democrats.
Trump’s categorical refusal occupied the top spot in the American and Western media, which described it as a “nightmare to hand over power.”
American experts told Al-Jazeera Net that Trump threatens the entire electoral process with this statement, and Princeton University historian Julian Zelzer believes that Trump aims to “threaten the electoral process and say out loud to everyone what he thinks.”
For his part, Professor Gregor Cougar, Dean of the Department of Political Science at the University of Miami, Florida, said that what Trump is doing is “not at all American.”
“One of the basic principles of American policy is that we choose our leaders by election,” Couger said. “President Trump’s constant attacks on the legitimacy of the US elections and his refusal to respect their results are un-American behavior.”
Has the banter turned into reality?
Trump was joking about continuing in office after his term, even for life.
Weeks ago, Trump admitted that he did not like defeat, stressing that he would not accept the results in advance.
In December, Trump said he would leave office within “5 years, 9 years, 21 years or 29 years.”
He then added that he was joking to “make the media crazy”.
A struggle in the courts and the streets
Richard L. “We can see a protracted struggle after the elections in the courts and the streets if the results are close,” said Hasen, an expert in legislation and election law and professor of law and political science at the University of California.
America has known procedural problems throughout its history with regard to the elections, but none of them caused a crisis in the real sense except in the 2000 elections when the Supreme Court decided the outcome of the state of Florida and recounted the votes, which led to George Bush’s victory against Al Gore.
The presidential elections have been known throughout their modern history with a phenomenon that keeps Americans in front of the screens, awaiting the news that the winning candidate receives a phone call from the losing candidate congratulating him on the victory.
Trump does not seem to believe in the necessity of following established American traditions, as he has not pledged to accept the election results and congratulate Biden if he loses.
The Atlantic magazine believes that this possibility is not impossible, reminding that some Trump supporters are already promoting him, and have gone out in several paramilitary processions waving his pictures, sending messages about the possibility of chaos in the event of losing their candidate.
US Enterprise Scenarios
And if he refuses to admit defeat, the scenarios for intervention by US official institutions range from forcing the defeated candidate to accept the results and securing the street, but do these scenarios guarantee the absence of violence that may multiply the American crises due to the outbreak of Corona, closures, economic damage and protests against racism? A question opened by Trump’s response to his acceptance of defeat over the unknown.
