On the final episode of “Fox News Sunday” before Election Day, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona leveled important criticism of Donald Trump: The former president, the Arizona senator said, is trying to “create the conditions under which he can do that.” what he did in 2020.”
Host Shannon Bream quickly interrupted, saying that Trump “left in 2020” at the end of his term. It was up to Kelly to remind the host and viewers that the Republican left office “after sending a mob to Capitol Hill,” adding, “There are people who died that day because Donald Trump refused to win the election.” to accept.’
The exchange was notable for several reasons, not least the prominence of Bream’s argument. Indeed, it is the line that the former president’s defenders have been pushing for almost four years.
Yes, Trump rejected legitimate election results because he disapproved of the voters’ judgment. Yes, he tried to overturn the outcome in ways that federal prosecutors say were patently illegal. Yes, he inundated his radicalized followers with lies, incited a riot, and deployed an armed mob to attack the U.S. Capitol as part of a plot to violently seize illegitimate power.
But when it came time for his successor’s inauguration, Republicans argue, at least Trump left the White House when he should have.
It was against this backdrop that, just hours after Bream’s observation, the Republican candidate expressed regret for leaving the White House when he should have. NBC News reported:
At another point in the [Pennsylvania] During the meeting, Trump said he should not have left the White House on January 20, 2021, when Biden was sworn in. “The day I left, I shouldn’t have left. I mean, honestly, because we did that, we did so well,” the former president told his supporters.
He it didn’t seem to be a joke.
In other words, with just two days to go until Election Day, as undecided voters made up their minds, the Republican candidate for the nation’s highest office reminded the public of his increasingly open hostility to democracy.
By all accounts, this was intended to be a speech summarizing his closing message, focusing on the stakes of the 2024 race. True to form, Trump deviated from his script and refocused on his grievances following the 2020 defeat. As the New York Times report on the meeting summarized: “With the comments, Mr. Trump used the final days of his campaign to give voters a stark reminder of the violence that occurred late in his term when, after weeks of false claims that he won an election he had lost, a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the certification of President Biden’s victory.”
A Politico report described Trump’s “don’t leave” rhetoric as “a remarkable admission from a former president whose efforts to cling to power led to a deadly riot at the Capitol.”
Welcome to election week 2024.
This article was originally published on MSNBC.com
