Trump’s myth of ‘rigging’ elections

In 2000, despite firmly believing he was the winner of the presidency (and topping then-GOP nominee George W. Bush by 500,000 votes), Vice President Al Gore conceded victory to Bush after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Bush’s electoral victory in Florida.

In his concession, Gore said, “While we yet hold — and do not yield — our opposing beliefs, there is a higher duty than the one we owe to political party. This is America and we put country before party. We will stand together behind our new president.” He added for those listening from overseas, “Let no one see this contest as a sign of American weakness. The strength of American democracy is seen most clearly through the difficulties it can overcome.”

In 2004, Democrat John Kerry questioned the Ohio vote in his run against Bush, but ultimately conceded for the country’s best interest.

Should Republican Donald Trump lose to Democrat Hillary Clinton, it’s clear the schoolyard bully will claim a fix. Trump’s repeatedly talking about the election being rigged. His bluster has been headed in that direction since he started to head down in the polls as his horrific sexist comments on a tape were revealed.

To already be talking about a rigged election isn’t just bulling the electorate or showing an absence of basic civility, it’s both factually incorrect and dangerous to the integrity of the American election system in the eyes of the world.

This story was originally published October 18, 2016 at 6:21 PM with the headline "Trump’s myth of ‘rigging’ elections."