Thursday, September 24, 2020

Republicans stop short of rebuking Trump as they insist there will be a peaceful transition of power.

 

Republicans stop short of rebuking Trump as they insist there will be a peaceful transition of power.

A handful of Republicans, including the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, expressed broad support for a peaceful transfer of power after President Trump refused on Wednesday to commit to accepting the results of November’s election. But they carefully avoided any direct criticism of the president.

“The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th,” Mr. McConnell wrote on Twitter early Thursday. “There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.”

“We’re going to have to see what happens,” is how Mr. Trump responded when asked to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power after the election. No president in modern memory has said what he said.

But members of Mr. Trump’s party treated the comment less like a historic threat to a bedrock democratic principle than as just another news-cycle provocation they hoped to dodge — and even the critics who emerged were careful not to call the president out by name.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, who this week declared his support for Mr. Trump’s decision to fast-track a new nominee for the Supreme Court, was first out with a criticism, as he has often been when Mr. Trump has made inflammatory comments.

“Fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus. Any suggestion that a president might not respect this Constitutional guarantee is both unthinkable and unacceptable,” Mr. Romney wrote on Twitter Wednesday night.

Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming and the third-ranking House Republican, took a similar line, tweeting: “The peaceful transfer of power is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental to the survival of our Republic. America’s leaders swear an oath to the Constitution. We will uphold that oath.”

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who has moderated his criticism of the president after lashing Mr. Trump during the 2016 Republican primary debates, also avoided referring to him directly in his response on Thursday.

“As we have done for over two centuries we will have a legitimate & fair election. It may take longer than usual to know the outcome, but it will be a valid one And at noon on Jan. 20, 2021 we will peacefully swear in the President,” wrote Mr. Rubio, who is also supporting Mr. Trump’s approach to filling the Supreme Court vacancy.

So did Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio, who tweeted, “Regardless of how divided our country is right now, when elections are over and winners are declared, we must all commit ourselves to the Constitution and accept the results.”

Former Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who has been helping Vice President Mike Pence prepare for the upcoming debates, struck a defiant note. “Smart candidates never concede anything before an election. They focus on what it takes to win,” he wrote. “Media could ask @JoeBiden & @KamalaHarris if they plan to concede on election night or drag it out for months.” Mr. Trump’s remarks, though, were not about whether he would be willing to concede on election night. They were about whether he would step aside if the election showed that he lost.

There was scant mention of Mr. Trump’s comments on the president’s favorite network, Fox News, on Wednesday, with the hosts Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham focusing on other topics.

Mr. Trump’s opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr., for his part, seemed to reflect on Democrats’ ambivalence about responding to what many view as another attempt by the president to divert attention from his failure to contain the coronavirus.

Asked about the president’s remarks late Wednesday, Mr. Biden told reporters, “What country are we in?”

“I’m being facetious,” Mr. Biden added. “Look, he says the most irrational things. I don’t know what to say.”

— Glenn Thrush

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