US President Joe Biden has said he is not confident there will be a peaceful transition of power if Donald Trump loses the presidential election in November.
"[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’.”
Mr Trump’s comment that it would “be a bloodbath for the country” if he loses the election, made as he was talking about the auto industry in March, triggered a wave of criticism.
The Trump campaign, however, said the comment was specifically about the auto industry and had been deliberately taken out of context. It sent a fundraising email which said Trump’s political opponents and others had been “viciously” misquoting him.
Yes, but there’s only so much he can do. Of course there are things he can do to prepare for violence, both directly and in coordination with state governors. That said, if people want to protest, they’re going to protest. The way things are, there’s a fine line between maintaining the peace and oppression. Republicans have, for years, been laying the groundwork for the oppression argument. It’s easy to say, “who cares” to that, but if enough people think they’re being oppressed by the government, things will get more violent.