President Donald Trump has refused to clearly guarantee a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the United States election in November to Joe Biden, according to NDTV.
“Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump responded when asked at a White House press conference whether he was committed to the most basic tenet of democratic rule in the United States — the peaceful handover of power upon a change of President.
Biden, who holds a steady lead over the Republican incumbent in opinion polls ahead of the November 3 vote, expressed incredulity.
“What country are we in?” the former Vice President said, when asked about Trump’s comment by reporters.
“Look, he says the most irrational things. I don’t know what to say.”
Republican Senator Mitt Romney, a frequent but rare party critic of Trump, went further, saying that any hesitation on the core constitution guarantee was “unthinkable and unacceptable”.
“Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus,” he tweeted.
Trump followed up his remarks — unprecedented in modern times for a US President — by resuming his near daily complaint about the fairness of the election.
Apparently referring to the increased use of mail-in ballots due to the Coronavirus pandemic, he said, “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.”
