Only winners and losers are the denizens of the world of Donald Trump. Rightly or wrongly, Trump proclaims himself as the ultimate winner, and has utter disdain for the “losers” of the world.
Here is the irony: If Trump were honest, he would characterise the majority of his supporters -- blue collar whites struggling economically -- as “losers.” One never sees Trump visiting the modest households of his financially-strapped white supporters. They have to travel hundreds of miles to Trump rallies to listen to their hero, who has not articulated any plan to alleviate their suffering.
A rigged election?
With 20 days to go before the November 8 election, and the polls predicting Trump’s defeat (Nate Silver puts the chance of a Clinton victory at 87%), Trump is now warning his supporters that the elections will be “rigged.”
An election loss will demolish the persona of a “winner” Trump has cultivated so carefully over a lifetime. A loss at the hands of a woman, Hillary Clinton, will be unacceptably humiliating for a misogynist like Trump.
If he can convince his supporters that the election has been “rigged,” he is off the hook. Even if Hillary Clinton wins, Trump can claim that he had not actually lost -- the election was stolen from him. He can still wear the mantle of a “winner.”
The third and last presidential debate on October 19 in Las Vegas was overshadowed by Trump’s assertion that he may not accept the results of the presidential election scheduled for November 8 if he loses. This is unprecedented in the 240-year history of the United States.
Historically, every loser of a presidential election had conferred legitimacy on the winner by conceding the election, and wishing the president-elect all the best. This has been the case even when the election results were in doubt.
For example, in 2000, Al Gore won half a million more popular votes nationwide than George W Bush. However, when the Supreme Court stopped the recount of votes cast in Florida, which could have resulted in a Gore victory, Al Gore conceded the election to Bush in an act of patriotism.
Trump’s refusal to vouch that he will concede the election if he loses, strikes at the foundation of America’s democracy. If he follows through with his threat, it will weaken American democracy. As the world is world painfully aware, it was the weakness in Western European democracy in the 1930s that gave rise to fascism.
Without offering any shred of evidence, Trump contends that there is widespread voter fraud in cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, and St Louis. Translation: Inner city blacks in Philadelphia, Chicago, and St Louis are stealing the election from the white folks.
A study has found that there were only 31 cases of voter-fraud out of a billion votes cast between 2000 and 2014. The problem is exactly the opposite. Instead of becoming a more inclusive party, for the last 30 years, the Republicans have attempted to make it harder for African-Americans and Latinos to vote, by enacting legislations that require voter IDs.
Hillary had the last laugh. She was poised, and radiated confidence that comes from thorough preparation
Trump is not really talking about voter fraud; he is saying that the election will be “rigged.” What he means is that the states and the federal government will conspire to disenfranchise the American voters, and illegally decide that Hillary Clinton is the winner.
Interestingly, two-thirds of the states, including the key battleground states of Ohio and Florida are under Republican control. The secretary of state for Ohio, a Trump supporter, has chastised Trump for impugning the integrity of the election process, as has Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. After Trump’s debate comment, several more senators and high-ranking Republicans have condemned Trump’s comment.
Better prepared, but just as bad
Sniffing as heavily as in the previous two debates, Trump was, nevertheless, much better prepared for the third. He seemed to hold his own in the first 20 minutes as he stuck to his talking points on immigration and trade.
When the moderator asked specific questions on foreign policy and national debt, Trump’s answers became more and more nebulous. He would try and answer a question for about 10 seconds, then become incoherent and rehash grounds he had covered before.
As Clinton criticised Trump and the Republicans for not only condoning, but also encouraging, Russians to hack into her and the Democratic Party’s emails as they attempt to influence America’s election and elect Putin-friendly Trump as president, Trump refused to condemn Putin or the Russians.
Trump denied the allegations of sexual assault levelled against him by 11 women, adding that they were all looking for their 15 minutes of fame, and that Hillary Clinton had put them up to it.
Once again, Trump denied that he had supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq, although proof exists that he did, and repeatedly called Hillary a liar. Trump used the slang “bad hombres” (bad fellows) to describe illegal Mexican immigrants.
At one point, Trump said that Clinton should not be allowed to run for president because of the crimes she had committed. Amid gasps from the audience, Trump interrupted Clinton and called her “such a nasty woman.” Clinton and Trump did not shake hands before or after the debate.
Hillary had the last laugh. She was poised, and radiated confidence that comes from thorough preparation. She smiled a lot, and had a thorough answer for every question. A CNN/ORC poll of debate watchers declared Clinton the winner by 52% to 39% for Trump. Hillary is now 3-0 in the 3 debates, and well on her way to a resounding victory on November 8.
Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed is a Rhodes Scholar.