US elections
Trump does not want to rule out violence if he loses
Donald Trump: “I think we will win. And if we don’t win, that’s what matters.” photo
© Mark Peterson/POOL Redux Pictures/AP/dpa
Donald Trump is known for avoiding clear answers in interviews. Does he think something like the storming of the Capitol could happen again? The Republican doesn’t want to commit to that.
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump believes political violence in the USA is conceivable if the election in the fall is not “fair”.
When asked whether things would remain peaceful if he lost to incumbent Joe Biden, Trump told Time magazine in an interview: “I think we’ll win. And if we don’t win, that’s what matters. It depends always depends on the fairness of an election.” He then referred to his long-debunked claim that massive fraud deprived him of victory in the 2020 presidential election: “I don’t think they’re going to get away with it this time. And if they do, we’re going to win in record fashion. “
The interview was conducted in two parts in April. Trump was asked both times whether he expected political violence after the election. The first time, the former president replied: “I think we will have a great victory. And I think there will be no violence.” In the second part of the interview he was asked specifically what would happen in the event of a defeat.
USA is deeply divided
The political mood in the USA has been heated for years – Trump’s polarizing term in office and in particular the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 are still having an impact today. At that time, Trump supporters violently broke into the Parliament building in the capital Washington after an inciting speech by the incumbent who had already been voted out. Congress met there to formally confirm the victory of the Democrat Biden. As a result of the riots, five people died. Since then, Trump has repeated the story of alleged election fraud countless times. Now he’s campaigning with it again. However, Trump himself has now been indicted in connection with attempted election fraud because he subsequently tried to overturn the democratic result of the 2020 presidential election.
In January, US Attorney General Merrick Garland denounced increasing threats against officials and democratic institutions in the country at the start of the election year. Since then, fears appear to have been confirmed that the country’s social divisions could become even deeper as a result of the foreseeable rematch of the Trump versus Biden duel in November.