Obama: Trump ‘dangerous’ for suggesting he won’t concede
ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Barack Obama spoke about the Affordable Care Act, today, at Miami Dade College in Miami. The president promoted his health overhaul by saying that never in U.S. history has the uninsured rate been lower than it is today.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. >> Calling it “dangerous,” President Barack Obama said that Donald Trump’s attempt to “sow the seeds of doubt” about the integrity of elections in America undermines U.S. democracy and does the work of the nation’s adversaries.
“That is not a joking matter,” Obama said at a campaign rally today for Trump’s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
During the final presidential debate with Clinton on Wednesday night, the Republican candidate refused to say whether he would follow years of tradition and concede if he doesn’t win the White House on Nov. 8. He has laid the groundwork by complaining for weeks that the system is “rigged” against him and in favor of Clinton, a former first lady, former U.S. senator and former secretary of state.
“I will tell you at the time. I’ll keep you in suspense,” Trump said. Clinton responded by calling the statement “horrifying.”
On Thursday, Trump tried to make light of the situation while campaigning in Ohio.
“I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election,” he said. After pausing for several seconds, Trump added: “If I win.”
Obama, who has felt the sting of losing an election, wasn’t buying it. He said Trump’s comments were further evidence that he’s unfit for office.
“All the Republicans — not all, but most — have acknowledged there’s no way to rig an election in a country this big,” Obama said. “He doesn’t even worry if what he says is true. This is just about him worried that he’s losing, which means he really doesn’t have what it takes to hold this job.”
He said Trump didn’t offer a “shred of evidence” to prove rigging or fraud, and called the claim “more than just the usual standard lie.”
Obama urged Floridians to take advantage of the opportunity to vote early, beginning on Monday.
“There’s only one way we lose this election. Just one. If we don’t turn out to vote,” Obama said. “Only way. We got to do it big. We got to leave no doubt.”
Obama said Trump is the first major party nominee in U.S. history to suggest he will not accept a loss.
“That is dangerous,” Obama said. “Because when you try to sow the seeds of doubt in people’s minds about the legitimacy of our elections, that undermines our democracy. … You’re doing the work of our adversaries for them because our democracy depends on people knowing that their vote matters, that those who occupy the seats of power were chosen by the people.”
Earlier in the week, Obama advised Trump to “stop whining” and get to work trying to win votes.
The president also used the Florida appearance to criticize Sen. Marco Rubio, saying Rubio’s continued support for Trump makes him unworthy of re-election. He urged Florida voters to send Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy to the Senate instead.
Rubio lost the Republican presidential nomination to Trump after a bitter primary campaign, during which he called Trump a “con artist,” among other things.
The senator has said he supports Trump’s bid for the White House, despite their policy disagreements and recent accusations that Trump has been sexually aggressive toward women, because he doesn’t want Clinton to be president.
Obama said such reasoning shows that Rubio cares only about himself.
“How can you call him a con artist and dangerous and object to all the controversial things he says, and then say ‘but I’m still going to vote for him.’ Come on, man,” Obama said. “It is the height of cynicism.”
After the rally, Obama ventured to Miami Beach to attend a fundraising dinner for Democratic gubernatorial candidates. About 40 people were expected to attend the event, which was closed to news media coverage.
31 responses to “Obama: Trump ‘dangerous’ for suggesting he won’t concede”
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Obama urges Florida voters to hit polls early – And often.
Sure, that makes sense. The Republican Governor, and the Republican Secretary of State, and the Republican Attorney General (who accepted an illegal $25,000 donation from Mr. Trump) are all going to ignore (non existent) voter fraud to elect Mrs. Clinton.
You always have such great analyses!
“[Qatar] would like to see WJC ‘for five minutes’ in NYC, to present $1 million check that Qatar promised for WJC’s birthday in 2011,” an employee at The Clinton Foundationsaid to numerous aides, including Doug Brand. “Qatar would welcome our suggestions for investments in Haiti — particularly on education and health. They have allocated most of their $20 million but are happy to consider projects we suggest. I’m collecting input from CF Haiti team.”
Klastri, the Florida Democratic Party has been pushing very hard to let people casts ballots during early voting even if their registration applications haven’t been verified. Wouldn’t that make the process ripe for voter fraud? Fortunately, a federal judge thought so and rejected the Florida Democratic Party’s request.
As President Barack Obama said, a person who whines before the game is over cannot handle the job of POTUS.
Time to “DUMP TRUMP!”
Early voting – Before the email scandals catch up to the public.
ONce they vote it’s final.
I’m beginning to believe there’s something scandalous brewing.
Of course you would. It’s because your hero is going to be beaten in a landslide. Good riddance to him.
klastri- you’re amusing !
Trump – Make America Great Again!!
Did you fall on your head at age 2? Your girl may win but she won’t last long.
The election is 3 weeks from being over, and you’re already whining. If you DUMP TRUMP, you won’t have to whine or resort to stoopid conspiracy theories.
Trump will lose because he runs his campaign like a loser. He thinks he’s a winner, but he’s not.
Time to DUMP TRUMP.
This is called piling on to achieve a landslide.
Mr. Trump is a wonderful person to kick when he’s down. And he is WAY down!
I wonder if little Barry Hussein will deploy some of his thuggish Chicago rabble rousers, ahem, I mean community organizers, at the polls to try and goad Trump supporters into a brawl. Not that there’s any history of that..wink, wink, nod, nod.
There isn’t, but you make things up. So go for it.
Thuggish? Can’t you at least make an attempt to mask the racism? Even a little bit?
Actually the gentlemen (thugs) I was referring to are Robert Creamer and Scott Foval. They both look lily-white to me. They got busted spilling family secrets on how to steal, er, I mean tilt elections in favor of democrats. If you got your nose out of the NYT and looked at the Drudge Report more often you would be able to make an informed choice come election day.
Actually, “thuggish” seems a more apt description of anyone who’d encourage others to kick someone when they’re down.
Instigating riots, enough so to shut down Trump’s Chicago rally, is criminal. Hillary should withdraw form the contest.
it actually makes me laugh to learn that the media’s final analysis of the debate surrounds Trump’s “horrifying” and “dangerous” statement. Give me a break. I’d say the biggest concern is that it was revealed the Democratic Party had paid riot instigators at Trump’s rallies, especially the one in Chicago. For weeks the big talking point of Democrats was the “violence” at Republican rallies. As it turns out, Hillary’s campaign was likely aware and part of the Dems strategy. That is criminal. It’s a much, much bigger deal than Trump’s words that he wants the right to challenge an election if necessary. As usual, the media piles on, all in lock step. The country is in real trouble when you no longer have a free press.
cajaybird – You really enjoy making up things.
You’re very practiced at lying, but despite all of the practice, you’re not very good at it. If you’re going to lie, it’s best to choose things that can’t be easily and immediately debunked.
Here on Oahu, I voted yesterday, held my nose and closed my eyes and voted between the lesser of two evils…..I really wanted to vote for Evan McMullin(sp) but he was not on the ballot nor could you write in his name…….rats……maybe in four more years?
Power to the people, stick it to the man.
Come Nov 9, will will have a female president or an old white man president said Captain Obvious.
Since O’s signature O’Grubercare is sinking fast what will be listed on his “Legacy” list on the positive column?
On the negative column we know he phucked up America & the World.
Spot on. Obamacare is the single biggest screw up a US president has ever made. I challenge all you Barry Hussein hero worshipers to list anything positive he has done for the country.
While we’re at it WTH has hiLIARy accomplished that benefited a MAJORITY of Americans?
Ahhh, eleven million jobs, record corporate profits, doubling of the stock market, and not just saving the auto industry, but making a profit in the process……
Ike did you cut class the day critical thinking was taught? Or are they substituting left wing group-think at our nations higher learning institutes now? Let’s poke holes in your claims one at a time shall we?
Eleven million jobs? Ever hear of labor participation rate? It was at a lofty 66% when Barry Hussein took over. It stands just shy of 63% now, that’s a biiiig drop. That means that there are a boatload of unemployed people who are not counted when the unemployment rate and added jobs are calculated.
Record corporate profits and the stock market resulted from the Federal Reserve keeping interest rates artificially low. The bill for that will come due after BHO is gone but it’s going to hurt and hurt badly.
He stepped in to “save” the auto industry and in reality saved the labor unions while screwing creditors and transferring losses to the taxpayer.
In short, little Barry Hussein could screw up a soup sandwich but his trained seals obediently clap and bark as if he actually is competent.
You might want to renew your subscription to the WSJ. The U.S. economy has struggled to grow at much better than a 2% annual pace during the seven-year expansion, and employment gains have been steady but largely unimpressive compared with past recoveries.
But those improvements beat those of other developed countries, says a new report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
“The U.S. economic recovery, while modest by historical standards, has been one of the strongest in the OECD,” said the organization, which has 34 member countries. That is “thanks to robust monetary policy support and an early fiscal expansion.”
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development put out a statement recently that said the US is making one of the strongest comebacks in the world economy.
Through the time period between 2007 and 2009 the US was hit the hardest in the middle of the Great Recession. Seven years later “the US economy has rebounded through robust monetary policy support and the well-timed expansion of fiscal policy,” the OECD report said.
If you take a snapshot of our basic economic indicators, things are trending up. Unemployment is at 4.7 percent. The gender wage gap is shrinking. Health insurance
coverage is up. Inflation is down. The financial sector has been vibrant recently.
Or just take an emperical overview…..https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-were-doing-compared-to-the-rest-of-the-world/
Crickets huh CEI???!?!!
Buahahahahahahah
Why don’t you just back to work, Obama….
McCain said, “That’s not just the Republican way or the Democratic way. It’s the American way.” I have rarely agreed with Sen. McCain’s political views but I’ve also never denied that he’s a very classy guy and a true American hero. In this case, I believe that he is absolutely right on.
Donald Trump can’t help being himself. It’s why he lost yet another debate and why he will lose the election.
The post-debate coverage has been dominated by Mr. Trump’s refusal to say he won’t accept the election results, and rightly so. It would be a shocking statement, except for the fact that he has spent much of this month attempting to undermine the foundations of our democratic system. That he would do so in a debate, despite how obviously self-destructive it was, underscores what has always been his main weakness: his unstable and disordered personality.
Mr. Trump obsesses over polls and knows that the overwhelming odds are that he will lose. Psychologically, he cannot accept that; for him, being labeled a loser is the ultimate humiliation. Therefore he has to manufacture an excuse for his impending defeat, and in this case, the excuse comes in the form of him repeatedly claiming that the election is rigged.
But that very claim, which is an extraordinary transgression of an unwritten and almost sacred democratic rule, not only will help insure his defeat, but will make the margin of that defeat even worse.
Most Americans are unsettled and unnerved by Mr. Trump, and the more exposed to him they are, the more unsettled and unnerved they become. He doesn’t come across as an agent of change, which would help him; instead, he comes across as a radical and destabilizing force, which hurts him.
Narcissism — in this instance the inability to accept that he is likely to lose to a woman in the biggest contest in the world — was at the core of Mr. Trump’s answer about not being prepared to say he would abide by the outcome of the election. What Americans saw almost instantaneously in that answer is that the Republican nominee for president puts himself — his vanity, his self-obsession, his need to project dominance and therefore his need to win — far above everything in life, including the best interest of the nation. All of us struggle with pride and none of us is selfless; but no one we have ever seen in American political life is as egotistical and selfish as Donald Trump.
That character flaw has led him to several terrible moments during this election, including the one in Wednesday’s debate that sealed his defeat. Earlier in this campaign he was unable to cite his favorite Bible passage. Here’s one that he could have learned from and that foreshadowed his fate: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
Peter Wehner served in the last three Republican administrations and is a contributing opinion writer.NYT
DONALD…DONALD…DONALD….
What’s dangerous is Indonesia kicking the U.S. out, while everyone is campaigning and nobody seems to watching the shop.