In the October 19 presidential debate, Republican candidate Donald Trump wouldn’t promise to accept the results of the election however it turns out. He prefers to keep us all in suspense.
What Will Happen When Trump Loses?
The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. So let’s look at what the Donald did when his team lost the 2012 election. Actually, it’s a lot like what he’s done after crucial moments in his own campaign. He tweeted his outrage, and he was wrong on the facts. Before the election officials had even finished counting the votes, he called for revolution.
He started out well before the polls closed.
Make sure to verify the voting machine does not switch your vote. If you have any problems, notify the poll workers.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
In tweets that were deleted but are available here, he said:
“He lost the popular vote by a lot and won the election. We should have a revolution in thus country.”
“The phoney [sic] electoral college made a laughing stock of our nation. The loser one [sic].”
A few minutes later:
“We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty.”
And then:
“More votes equals a loss… revolution!”
Just in case any more of the tweets are pulled before you read this, here’s a link to a story that shows them all.
What Trump Didn’t Understand
The Donald started his tweet storm about the “unfair” Obama victory about 10:30 p.m. EST on election night. The networks called the election for Obama when it became clear that Obama had won Ohio (and therefore had the 270 electoral votes needed to win) and the polls closed in California, shortly after 10 p.m. EST/7 p.m. PST. But the reports of the popular vote did not yet include the votes from the West Coast— because those counts had just started. After all, the polls had closed at 10 p.m. EST. There’s no way that all those millions of votes could have been counted in half an hour.
The networks’ projections are based in large part on exit polling. Usually, they’re correct. But when the networks make their projections, the popular vote isn’t in yet. That’s why at 10:30 p.m. Eastern, it appeared that Romney had more votes than Obama. In fact, President Obama won both the popular vote and the electoral college.
The Bottom Line
Trump will announce “his” results before the votes are counted. He’ll tweet up a storm. And he might threaten revolution. If we’re lucky, daughter Ivanka and running mate Mike Pence will calm him down before he calls on his supporters to get out their guns. Then again, Pence walked back his statement after the Donald’s statement during the debate. He now says that Trump will accept the results:
“if the vote is fair.”
Trump tweets will rule the day…
Featured image from video.