Biden Expresses Doubts About Peaceful Transition if Trump Loses Election
In a recent interview with CBS News, President Joe Biden expressed concerns about the likelihood of a peaceful transfer of power should former President Donald Trump lose the upcoming November election. This marks Biden’s first public appearance since he withdrew from the race last month, paving the way for Kamala Harris to continue as the Democratic candidate.
Biden voiced his apprehensions by stating, “If Trump loses, I’m not confident at all.” He elaborated, highlighting Trump’s past rhetoric: “[Trump] means what he says, we don’t take him seriously. He means it, all this stuff about ‘if we lose it will be a bloodbath’.”
Trump’s controversial remark about a “bloodbath for the country” if he loses, made during a discussion about the auto industry in March, has stirred significant backlash. The Biden campaign capitalized on this statement, incorporating it into an ad shared widely on social media, and accused Trump of fostering and justifying political violence.
In response, the Trump campaign claimed the remark was taken out of context, asserting that it specifically referred to the auto industry. Trump’s team sent a fundraising email, accusing political opponents of misrepresenting his words. Trump defended his statement on social media, explaining, “[They] fully understood that I was simply referring to imports allowed by Crooked Joe Biden, which are killing the automobile industry.”
Biden has previously expressed doubts about Trump accepting the election outcome. During a CNN presidential debate in June, which led to Biden stepping aside and endorsing Harris, Trump was asked if he would accept the 2024 election results. Trump initially sidestepped the question but eventually responded, “If it’s a fair and legal and good election, absolutely.”
Following his defeat in the 2020 election, Trump made numerous baseless claims of voter fraud, culminating in his supporters storming the Capitol in January 2021 to obstruct the certification of the election results. Many rioters echoed Trump’s assertions that the election was rigged.
In the recent CBS interview, a clip of which was shared on X, Biden hinted at efforts to complicate the post-election certification process, though he did not specify the details. He emphasized, “Look what they’re trying to do now, in the local election districts where people count the votes. You can’t love your country only when you win.”
