We no longer hold these truths to be self-evident:
- A U.S. presidential election will be held every four years in November.
- The armed forces will not be involved in those elections.
- Nor in domestic protests.
- Medicine will be approved when science says it’s safe and effective, not because a politician wants it approved before Election Day.
- The United States is an example to the world in managing a peaceful transfer of power.
- You’ll get your checks, bills, letters, junk mail — and ballots — on time in your mailbox. Because: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”
That unofficial Post Office creed was carved in granite. The other verities of American democracy and public service might as well be. But that doesn’t make them eternal. This is Trump’s America, where truths once too obvious to state now have to be.
Trump goes where other presidents have not, stomping on mores, blurring lines and — as Washington-speak has it — saying the quiet part out loud. Supporters relish that. Opponents can’t abide it. No one can get away from it.
As for America’s self-image as an exemplar of democracy, the nation may have lost bragging rights about its election management 20 years ago when antiquated machines and a crazy-close presidential vote in Florida produced a Bush v. Gore standoff that went to the Supreme Court. But Democrat Al Gore quickly stood down when the court issued its contentious decision in favor of Republican George W. Bush, and a smooth handover ensued.
Americans now face a question their democracy has rarely had to ask — will the president accept the results if he loses a close or even not-so-close election? Trump won’t commit. “I have to see,” he says. “I’m not going to just say yes. I’m not going to say no.”
He floated the outlier idea of holding off on the election, only to have that thought slapped down by the Senate’s Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, and other Republicans who normally give him no trouble. Congress would have to change the election date and the message back to Trump was: Forget this one.
Altogether, these forebodings from a sitting president about contested results and chaos have sparked a further question foreign to the modern American experience. Might the armed forces intervene, either to support Trump or — as Democratic rival Joe Biden mused — to pry him from the Oval Office if he loses and won’t go?
Trump calculates that urban unrest and violence will benefit him politically. “The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order,” said Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.
In that instance, she said the quiet part out loud for him.
Read the full editorial here:
https://apnews.com/5d36b153a2070996b8f380dbe6ac4e75
Calvin Woodward, Associated Press