Paul and Mitch have failed to come forward to rebuke Trump for his irresponsible and narcissistic statement. I am concerned about Trump's repeated chants of fraud in only African-American communities. His request to his supporters to 'monitor' these areas is frightening due to the guns they presumably will be toting. The Justice Dept. will be using fewer election monitors this year due to budget cuts. It couldn't be worse timing. Trump's racism and hatred are truly appalling. I hope officials are taking these threats seriously.
373
A large portion of the electorate, myself included, is eager for an outsider to come in and shake up the status quo and definitely not do business as usual. Trump has said many things that need to be said - about corrupt influence of lobbyists, the disastrous Iraq war, trade agreements that need to be renegotiated - and more. But in practice, his gauche, erratic temperament, bull in a china shop style, checkered business past, tendency to blatantly lie, and his complete lack of class mixed with overt appeals to the worst in American society render him utterly unqualified to be that outsider. To those who love him, none of those faults matter. They just think he's going to waltz into the White House and magically make all the problems go away. They are sadly mistaken.
508
Charles, you just need to acclimate yourself to the fact that about 40% of the people in this country lament that they lost the civil war. 1861 was their declaration on independence, not 1776.
375
Trump is the BIGGEST LOSER of all time!!!
265
He can't bear to accept the fact that he might "lose to a girl." Hence the excuses and explanations -- the voter fraud, the mainstream media poisoning of voters' minds, the conspiracy theories, the questioning of her stamina and the assertion that she might be on some kind of performance enhancing drugs -- it can't possibly be the fact that she might be a better, more qualified candidate. That possibility does not exist on Planet Trump.
306
What's the difference between this election and every other one I can recall? A woman running, primarily, and a lack of vetting by the Republican Party, aided and abetted by a press that gave Trump billions of dollars in free advertising during the primaries. The poll-tax mentality of many states will keep thousands from casting legal ballots, but because this small, little man continues to lie without compunction, millions will believe the election will be stolen from him. Let's not forget his admiration Putin, a former KGB apparatchik successfully hacking the election, and making him a top ally for the U.S. I feel as though I woke up in a Bizarro world, one in which lies are the truth, Putin is to be believed, and turning a presidential debate into the season finale of a game show is acceptable.
226
Voter fraud?
The real voter fraud is Republican redistricting. In the 2012 Pennsylvania House races Democrats received over 50% of the votes (over 67,000 more than Republicans) but only got 5 of the 18 congressional seats! In other words Democrats got 50% of the votes, but only 27% of the representatives. It's as if the Republicans stole 24% of the votes. While Republicans have been yelling about voter fraud and passing laws to limit mainly minority access to the ballot box, the very real voter fraud is happening in secret rooms using computers and maps and census data to limit the ability of real majorities to have their will known. While gerrymandering is as old as our democracy, this is gerrymandering in extreme and a hitherto unknown extreme. This is the real voter fraud.
The real voter fraud is Republican redistricting. In the 2012 Pennsylvania House races Democrats received over 50% of the votes (over 67,000 more than Republicans) but only got 5 of the 18 congressional seats! In other words Democrats got 50% of the votes, but only 27% of the representatives. It's as if the Republicans stole 24% of the votes. While Republicans have been yelling about voter fraud and passing laws to limit mainly minority access to the ballot box, the very real voter fraud is happening in secret rooms using computers and maps and census data to limit the ability of real majorities to have their will known. While gerrymandering is as old as our democracy, this is gerrymandering in extreme and a hitherto unknown extreme. This is the real voter fraud.
988
Mr. Blow, what American Democracy?
We saw how Bush Jr. won the Presidency in Florida.
We saw how Republicans rearrange voting boundaries so people have to
travel very far to vote. They also changed certain requirements to vote.
We saw how the DNC was more partial to Mrs. Clinton and less so to Mr. Sanders.
We "heard" how an Arab representative of an Arab country asked and received immediate contact with Mrs. Clinton. He happened to have donated a large amount to the Clinton Foundation, but Democracy looked the other way.
We see how Big Business and the Big Banks and brokerage houses keep "getting off the hook" for their improprieties.
We see how paid lobbyists get to speak with elected representatives in the House and Senate to Curry favours.
We see how the Koch Brothers can try and influence voters with their cvast resource of money.
And on and on……
So Mr. Blow, where is "American Democracy?"
We saw how Bush Jr. won the Presidency in Florida.
We saw how Republicans rearrange voting boundaries so people have to
travel very far to vote. They also changed certain requirements to vote.
We saw how the DNC was more partial to Mrs. Clinton and less so to Mr. Sanders.
We "heard" how an Arab representative of an Arab country asked and received immediate contact with Mrs. Clinton. He happened to have donated a large amount to the Clinton Foundation, but Democracy looked the other way.
We see how Big Business and the Big Banks and brokerage houses keep "getting off the hook" for their improprieties.
We see how paid lobbyists get to speak with elected representatives in the House and Senate to Curry favours.
We see how the Koch Brothers can try and influence voters with their cvast resource of money.
And on and on……
So Mr. Blow, where is "American Democracy?"
80
For the record, I'll only accept the outcome if Trump loses big time.
536
I agree that Trump's claim is outrageous, but where is the outrage about Senators like John McCain and Mitch McConnell, who, though they might not use Trump's exact words, have done and said things that mean the same thing. McConnell's saying that he was going to make sure Obama was a one-term president; McCain now saying that he and the rest of his Senate Republican colleagues would block any nominee for SCOTUS that a President Clinton would put forward. It amounts to the same thing: a dangerous, childish, and disgraceful refusal to accept a fair-and-square defeat of their party at the ballot box and get on with a smooth transfer of power and the business of governing. Other Republicans have joined that steady drumbeat of obstruction and denial over the years. Trump, as with so many other issues, is the Id Impulse that puts into plain language what Republicans have subscribed to for years. All their hand-wringing now is such hypocrisy.
734
How can even a single person vote for this absurd tinpot dictator wannabe? Trump understands nothing except his enormous ego, his enormous greed, his missing morality, and his primal medieval ideas towards women. How can anyone, even a single person, vote for him to be president of our country?
507
I know that logic is not one of Donald Trump's strengths but he seems unable to get his ridiculous act together.
He said today in Ohio "I will totally accept elections results if I win", presumably meaning that there is a chance that elections won't be rigged.
But yesterday, during the debate, he said that the elections are rigged.
So Mr. Trump, what is it, are the elections rigged or not rigged?
If the elections are already rigged, as he claimed during the debate, there is no need to clarify that he will accept the results because he is going to lose given the fact that they are rigged.
But, if he still can win, as he said in Ohio, then the elections are not rigged as he claimed during the debate.
A more principled, if crazy, stance, would be for Mr. Trump to claim just that the elections are rigged.
We, of course, know what all this means in the unfathomable meanders of his sinister mind: Elections are rigged if I lose, but they aren't if I win.
I look forward to Nov. 9 to get this annoying and dangerous character out of the way.
He said today in Ohio "I will totally accept elections results if I win", presumably meaning that there is a chance that elections won't be rigged.
But yesterday, during the debate, he said that the elections are rigged.
So Mr. Trump, what is it, are the elections rigged or not rigged?
If the elections are already rigged, as he claimed during the debate, there is no need to clarify that he will accept the results because he is going to lose given the fact that they are rigged.
But, if he still can win, as he said in Ohio, then the elections are not rigged as he claimed during the debate.
A more principled, if crazy, stance, would be for Mr. Trump to claim just that the elections are rigged.
We, of course, know what all this means in the unfathomable meanders of his sinister mind: Elections are rigged if I lose, but they aren't if I win.
I look forward to Nov. 9 to get this annoying and dangerous character out of the way.
194
He reminds me the rich spoiled kid in the block that refused to play with other kids unless he wins. The only difference is that in this case the rich spoiled kid is a 70 year old man whose bigotry made him unable to accept he lost to a Woman.
230
For any Republican to complain of a rigged election, when through many election cycles now, and certainly at present, they do virtually EVERYTHING they can to make voting more difficult, canceling early voting, moving polling places, requiring ID cards of specific sorts, often hard to obtain, sending out mischievously false information about days, hours, and places for voting, the absurd redrawing of districts.... If all those things are not "rigging", then what IS?
575
You should take "arguably" out of the third-to-the-last paragraph. Sources say....
18
The 12th Amendment to the Constitution provides for challenges to presidential elections as a safeguard against election fraud. However, the objections must be signed by both a senator and a representative. When Congress meets in joint session to count electoral votes, the President of the Senate must call for objections as each electoral vote is read out. When objections are made, both the Senate and House of Representatives must vote separately on the objection, which fails unless both houses agree. The process has been used only twice, once in 1969 and once in 2005, both time by Democrats. Trump would have to persuade one senator and one representative to sign an objection to challenge the election results at the federal level. However, the Electoral Count Act of 1887 permits candidates to challenge presidential election results at the state level, as Democrat Al Gore did in 2000. None of these refusals to accept the outcome of presidential elections caused the collapse of democracy.
23
And yet here we are, 20 days from the election, with millions of people eating up every vile word he spews and loving him for it. They think he's clever, he's funny, they hate Hillary, they hate Obama, and there isn't anything he could say that is a step too far, a line over-stepped, a word too hateful. Most of us thought he passed a threshold on day one and that his candidacy was a huge joke on America. "Wrong", as he says during the debates, when, of course, she has stated a proven fact.
We'll not heal from this for a long time.
We'll not heal from this for a long time.
273
"He needs a reason that he’s losing other than the fact that he is arguably the least qualified, most ridiculous candidate to ever run for president as a major party nominee."
Thank you, Charles Blow.
Thank you, Charles Blow.
260
I've stopped speaking ill of the Donald. He is the one candidate they could have nominated who can possibly deliver a Democratic President, Senate, and, most shockingly, House. Who would have thought? Now if the Indians win the World Series, my year is complete.
168
When Trump is "thrumped" on the 9th of November, there will be no denying the result. In 2012 Romney garnered 60,933,504 votes (47.2%, losing by 4.1%). If one were to hazard a guess based on that, adding the rapidly falling popularity of Trump, there will be a far more lopsided plurality.
Assuming the same total vote as 2012 (126,849,299) and a double digit win by HRC (yep, a romp), say 12% advantage, Trump will stay at, or below, his 38% share. The question of "rigging" will be moot.
Just one guy with a pencil and the back of an envelope calculation.
Assuming the same total vote as 2012 (126,849,299) and a double digit win by HRC (yep, a romp), say 12% advantage, Trump will stay at, or below, his 38% share. The question of "rigging" will be moot.
Just one guy with a pencil and the back of an envelope calculation.
53
He really does seem to think that it matters whether or not he accepts the outcome of the vote. He can throw all the tantrums he wants, vow to sue every voter who didn't choose him, demand he be the only one allowed to see the ballots (like his taxes), his refusal to accept it won't make him the winner.
Someone should tell him that once the Electoral College votes and the election is certified, that's the end of it.
Someone should tell him that once the Electoral College votes and the election is certified, that's the end of it.
87
Unqualified and disgraceful as he is, I don't really believe that Trump's assertion about potentially not 'accepting' the results means much. It's largely a sop to his base, reinforcing in their minds that he is 'one of them,' meaning a down-trodden, put-upon American who is up against the man, always an underdog. Of course, he wouldn't mind if his more rabid supporters took this as a cue for violence- because, to Trump, that would be like a big hug: 'See, they love me, the people love me so much that they're not going to let me go quietly.' But do I think this is part of an organized plan to lead some sort of formal 'revolution' (a la Bernie); or organize a third party? Nah, Trump is far too lazy to undertake anything like that. Not only would it be a lot of work, but you kind of need some principles to base your revolution on. And Trump has no guiding principles.
When this is over, he's going to be looking for a new 'brand.' Coming soon: Trump Television or Trump Radio... the leading news source for angry white men and the women who love them (as long as they're under 35 and model-worthy). A Trump media empire will lead the way in fact-free, overwrought rhetoric disguised as news. Pretty soon Fox will seem like MSM.
When this is over, he's going to be looking for a new 'brand.' Coming soon: Trump Television or Trump Radio... the leading news source for angry white men and the women who love them (as long as they're under 35 and model-worthy). A Trump media empire will lead the way in fact-free, overwrought rhetoric disguised as news. Pretty soon Fox will seem like MSM.
70
I don't blame the guy, because when you see all of the unethical behavior from both parties, from so many politicians, with the Democratic Party working to bury Bernie, and even Supreme Court Justice Ginsberg got in on the act, Trump is doing us all a favor by challenging all of the long-held questionable traditions, and blowing up our badly broken system.
Thank you Donald for doing something that should've been done long ago.
Thank you Donald for doing something that should've been done long ago.
18
I think you're reacting to the wrong personality. Trump will probably develop a media empire. He has now secured enough fans for success unlike Palin who wasn't sophisticated enough for just her own show. But both worked hard at a personality cult and Trump succeeded. I seriously doubt that he expected or even wanted a serious job in government.
I think journalists were gamed by Trump, Bannon, Breitbart who know exactly what they want. Power and Money. And everyone gave it to them willingly; crippling a future Real President with criticism about her low approval ratings ( whether they are real or created by media to spur the horse race). Sad
I think journalists were gamed by Trump, Bannon, Breitbart who know exactly what they want. Power and Money. And everyone gave it to them willingly; crippling a future Real President with criticism about her low approval ratings ( whether they are real or created by media to spur the horse race). Sad
50
All Trump had to say was "yes, I'll accept the outcome of the election" Game over, go home and prepare for the next day?
15
I'm from the philly suburbs. I am middle aged 59 year old female. I've heard quite a few people really resent what Trump said about philly having rigged elections, and all my peers at work and in my family will not vote for him, especially after the Tape. Trump, you are done. Toast. The Biggest Loser. And you don't know Philly people and the suburban people. We're a tough crowd, like New Yorkers. Your wuss cries of voter fraud only turned the crowd further against you. How does it feel? Especially after you insulted republican runners in the primaries with your vulgar insults,
untenable and unbelievable comments to a gold star family, women, minorities and countless other Americans. Worlds Biggest Loser. Goodbye to your brand!
untenable and unbelievable comments to a gold star family, women, minorities and countless other Americans. Worlds Biggest Loser. Goodbye to your brand!
130
Stamping your tiny feet and pitching a tantrum when an adult tries to take your toy away qualifies you for the sandpit not the oval office.
67
Offer in compromise..... Trump and his supporters can have West Virginia. They can shoot each other with automatic weapons and dig coal till they get black lung. And we can build a wall around the border so they can't immigrate to the rest of the U.S.A.
158
The whole country MUST repudiate this man in large number. There should be no doubt that we will never accept a xenophobic ignorant hate monger to representing us and the free world.
166
In a now remarkably prescient book written in the rough middle of George W. Bush's baleful presidency, Harry Frankfurt made a useful if subtle distinction between lying and bullsh*ting. The liar, as Prof. Frankfurt saw it, was someone well aware of the truth who chooses instrumentally to present its opposite or elide it altogether. He lies but, at bottom, cares enough for the truth to recognize it. For the practitioner of bullsh*t, on the other hand, the facts, the truth, are all eminently malleable because, ultimately, he does not care about it.
The difference, on the surface seems small; after all, both end up presenting a lie. Yet, the fundamentals are radically different, philosophically speaking. For the liar, reality is a fact he accepts but chooses to deny; for the bullsh*ter, there is no reality but what you make of it. Frankfurt, correctly, saw this as a troubling development, some nadir of moral relativism.
Why bullsh*t? Because to accept the truth would be to countermand the falsities on which he has built his personality. So you get the winner trope: I'm a winner, I always win, I know how to win, grab my short fingers and I'll take you to win-win land.
Trump is the emperor of bullsh*t.
The difference, on the surface seems small; after all, both end up presenting a lie. Yet, the fundamentals are radically different, philosophically speaking. For the liar, reality is a fact he accepts but chooses to deny; for the bullsh*ter, there is no reality but what you make of it. Frankfurt, correctly, saw this as a troubling development, some nadir of moral relativism.
Why bullsh*t? Because to accept the truth would be to countermand the falsities on which he has built his personality. So you get the winner trope: I'm a winner, I always win, I know how to win, grab my short fingers and I'll take you to win-win land.
Trump is the emperor of bullsh*t.
156
Count me in with the well prepared, strong, competent "nasty woman" and against the emperor of bullsh*t, the man who would be king of all that is deplorable .
71
"Write a Comment": At this point, I think any thinking American voter is beyond words to describe this Republican candidate; what a travesty this election cycle is, and continues to be. My high shool American Government teacher is surely spinning her grave.
101
Trump and his surrogates begin the spin cycle. They even dragged Al Gore loss from the 2000 election as an example. Desperation from the Trump camp has never been so obvious. But it also detracts from the real story, we already know Mr. Trump is no gentleman but we also need to be reminded of the GOP policies and platform that will be voted along a vote for Trump. It's easier to hate than to think rationally. His supporters are the same people who still believe that Obama was not legitimate. The Civil war began when Obama got elected, it's only now come to the front, the ultimate ruination of the GOP from what they had sowed - seeds of anger and hate.
53
Yes Yes Charles,right on for sure. Man o' Man will I ever be glad when this fool exits stage left or via a trap door maybe. Enough of this 'entertainer,' the Act wears thin. But we'll be stuck with a lot of folks who enjoyed the Show....like bad Burlesque.
43
Two point five weeks. Not with a bang, but a whimper.
33
It is not the first time he has proved to be completely unqualified - far from it. I am surprised we even need to have this editorial to point it out.
41
"He needs a reason so that his self-inflated self-image as a relentless winner is not undone should he lose this election by embarrassing margins."
He needs a reason so that his followers will not tumble to the dirty little secret that he never wanted the job and did everything in his power to ensure he wouldn't get it (once it became clear that, contrary to his expectations, he would be the party's nominee).
He needs a reason so that his followers will not tumble to the dirty little secret that he never wanted the job and did everything in his power to ensure he wouldn't get it (once it became clear that, contrary to his expectations, he would be the party's nominee).
18
This gringo loco is one bad hombre.
312
I'm a tired old blonde American, and I will be even more specific than you've been, Mr. Blow. (I like your article.)
When Donald Trump warns his followers that voters in cities like St. Louis and Chicago might tip or "rig"
the election, he is calling for his advocates to distrust and discredit (and perhaps attack) African-American voters, and he's sounding the bugle, calling them to hounds. Calling them to hound those voters. Because dem ain't real people.
An old American sport.
But it ain't gonna work this time.
It is just not going to work.
This country is too big for him now.
When Donald Trump warns his followers that voters in cities like St. Louis and Chicago might tip or "rig"
the election, he is calling for his advocates to distrust and discredit (and perhaps attack) African-American voters, and he's sounding the bugle, calling them to hounds. Calling them to hound those voters. Because dem ain't real people.
An old American sport.
But it ain't gonna work this time.
It is just not going to work.
This country is too big for him now.
236
This "horrifying" utterance by the candidate and his troglodyte inner circle joins a long list of such productions. You might notice that he has gotten away with all the previous ones: we do not have his tax returns; we not have apologies; we do not have any money returned to the U S Treasury--on and on. It is becoming harder to find new words sufficiently precise to express our horror, dismay, despair for the damage that he will continue to cause even after his massive defeat. He won't even know that he lost--those kinds of facts are simply invisible--and the craven "surrogates" who do see perfectly well will continue to say how fine the king's clothes look today.
58
We also have never had a sitting president denounce his potential successor as “unfit to serve as President.” I think we can safely assume that Obama would recognize and accept this transition of power and that this comment was political rhetoric. But these remarks can be misunderstood, perhaps willfully. Trump, too, should be more clear.
9
"We also have never had a sitting president denounce his potential successor as “unfit to serve as President.”" Perhaps because we have never had a so manifestly unfit person as a candidate for president. Speaking the truth is not bias and not out of bounds. And by the way, President Obama clearly stated that should Mr. Trump win, he would escort him to the podium where he would take the oath of office. Nothing unclear about it.
100
The Republican party leadership hedged until it was too late to prevent Trump's becoming their nominee or to remove him from the ticket. Now, for the good of the country, they will need to use whatever influence they still have to prevent acts of polling place intimidation and violence by the angry fringe he continues to whip into a frenzy.
46
And yet no GOP leader (Ryan, McConnell, Priebus,....) has disavowed his candidacy. The GOP is willing to burn the house down and invite civil disorder rather than lose to HRC. This is a truly sad day for our nation. And on Nov. 9 these selfish, feckless, despicable anti-patriots and their supporters will be among us still.
447
I liked IKE but couldn't vote for him because I was in high school.When I was old enough to vote I voted for Nixon even though I was living in Boston. I voted for Goldwater even though I knew his policies were too far right for me and the country. In short, I have voted Republican in every national election....until this one. When Trump got the nomination I thought that as president he would moderate and become more Republican. But no, he is still Trump without a clue about how things work or are supposed to work in politics. I fear for what he would do to our country and will vote for Clinton who I can trust to continue our democracy.
166
There is a significant portion of the population who have a different, but distorted, version of American Democracy. Their version seems to say " the government should stay out of my life and I can say or do whatever I want regardless of who I offend" until they need the government to help them with something that concerns them (usually related to money or religion) and until someone responds adversarially to their remarks (often resulting in physical threats). I've witnessed it. I live in a community whose newspaper has endorsed Trump. Trump's actions and vision -- if it can be called a vision -- represent their type of democracy. And many of us worldwide have watched it's characteristics manifest itself through online social media. Why should we be surprised?
122
So what happens post Clinton era? Who is going to win the majority minority districts that Obama won and Hillary is going to win? Do we have to prepare for Clinton III as in Chelsea?
5
We can only hope Michelle Obama is ready to answer the call!!
46
Any politician of any party who would not accept the results of a presidential election in America doesn't merit his candidacy for the Presidency. Mr. Trump was never qualified to run for the presidency, and his announcement at the debate from hell last night that he'd keep us in suspense, that he'd recognize the winner of the election if he was the winner, and that otherwise, the election would be - as all that works against him in this life - rigged. We, the people, among several million other patriotic and loyal and loving Americans, look forward with great anticipation to The Donald's concession speech to Mrs. Clinton. From our lips to God's Ear.
44
You have a poor memory Nan or maybe you were too young,but i remember the Al Gore Vs George Bush very distinctly. Go back and look at those interesting discussions including the Supreme Court decision.
"Hanging Chads "etc.The debate was long ,drawn out and acrimonious.
VP Gore and his cohorts did not accept the final outcome with pleasantries
"Hanging Chads "etc.The debate was long ,drawn out and acrimonious.
VP Gore and his cohorts did not accept the final outcome with pleasantries
8
All the reasons for his tailspin flameout will be summarized in a single word that is the fitting epitaph to his campaign:
"Loser."
"Loser."
76
I think Donald Trump has been watching way too much all-star wrestling late at night, where throwing chairs, tantrums, name-calling, pulling hair, tag-team cheating, and below-the-belt blows are far too common. In Mr. Trump's perfect world, besides him getting Emmy awards for his reality T.V. program, all-star wrestling would be showcased on prime time instead of Monday Night Football, for this is the world he inhabits. And he thinks he's doing fabulously well because he sees the crowds at all-star wrestling matches screaming at these very kinds of antics. Who needs polls when all you have to do is watch after-midnight all-star wrestling to see and know what America wants?
18
I imagine Dwight Eisenhower looking down on all of this and wonder what he is thinking. His dignity and decency are in such stark contrast to what we see today.
34
The first rule of Voter Fraud is not to talk about Voter Fraud.
6
Trump: “Voter fraud is all too common, and then they criticize us for saying that. But take a look at Philadelphia, what’s been going on, take a look at Chicago, take a look at St. Louis. Take a look at some of these cities, where you see things happening that are horrendous.” There is nothing to do with voting that is horrendous in those cities. Nothing. Voter fraud is extremely uncommon, practically non-existent. You are criticized? Then you have been given a pass. You deserve so much worse than criticism.
35
Very simple, Donald Trump is a sore looser.
36
Last week Melania said that she had accepted Donald's apology about the advance he made on women. https://nypost.com/2016/10/08/melania-says-shes-accepted-trumps-apology/
Yesterday he said he never apologized to her.
Yesterday he said he never apologized to her.
81
Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.
19
It is the response of a petulant adolescent. Since a citizen is not qualified to be POTUS until the age of 35, adolescents - perpetual or real, petulant or not are simply not allowed to own the Oval Office.
57