House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) put President Donald Trump on notice Wednesday, saying he needs to get over his concerns about mail-in voting and potential election fraud and accept the voting results “like a man.” Pelosi appears to be feeling confident that her party’s nominee, Joe Biden, will win the presidency next month.
The speaker’s comments came in an interview with MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin, the Hill reported. Mohyeldin asked her what can be done if Trump claims victory prematurely even though large numbers of mail-in votes might not yet be counted.
“On January 20, 2021, Joe Biden will be inaugurated president of the United States. The states will count the votes that they have in a timely fashion,” Pelosi said.
“The easiest thing for [Trump] to do is to stand up like a man and accept the results of an election of the American people,” Pelosi continued. “For him to make these kinds of statements shows his lack of patriotism, his undermining of our elections while he allows foreign countries like his friend [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to undermine the integrity of our election, he himself is doing it as well.”
Trump warns of voter fraud
Pelosi pointed to comments Trump has made about the potential fraud of mail-in voting and the fact that he has refused to say he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he is declared the loser in the election.
In fact, Trump did say he wanted a peaceful transition, but left the door open to the possibility that Democrats might claim victory for their candidate Joe Biden when he did not actually win fairly.
Earlier this month during an NBC town hall, Trump said, “Peaceful transfer? I absolutely want that. But ideally, I don’t want to transfer, because I want to win. And then they talk about, ‘Will you accept a peaceful transfer?’ The answer is yes, I will. But I want it to be an honest election. And so does everybody else.”
Pelosi’s comments are a red herring designed to try to shame Trump into conceding even if the election is obviously fraudulent.
Would Biden concede?
I wonder if Pelosi has seen the latest reports that show early voting is not getting Democrats enough votes compared to previous elections. It is far more likely to be the case that Biden refuses to concede even when it becomes impossible for him to win — Hillary Clinton has already told him not to concede “under any circumstances.”
A contentious election that goes days or weeks after Election Day without a definitive result seems likely as polls tighten and campaigning reaches fever pitch on both sides. Currently, mail-in ballot counting deadlines have been extended in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, two states that have the potential to be close.
Another sign there is likely to be contention is the record number of election-related lawsuits that have been filed in the weeks and months before Election Day.
“It would be very, very proper and very nice if a winner were declared on Nov. 3, instead of counting ballots for two weeks, which is totally inappropriate and I don’t believe that that’s by our laws,” Trump said on Tuesday. “We’ll see what happens.”
The post 'Stand up like a man': Pelosi urges Trump to accept election results first appeared on Conservative Institute.
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