Mitch McConnell Rejects Trump’s Election Remarks: ‘There Will Be an Orderly Transition’
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) took to Twitter to indirectly respond to President Donald Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election in November — writing that “there will be an orderly transition.”
“The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792,” McConnell wrote in a Thursday tweet.
The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.
— Leader McConnell (@senatemajldr) September 24, 2020
When asked by a reporter if he would commit to “a peaceful transferral of power after the election,” Trump replied, “we’re going to have to see what happens.”
“Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation,” Trump added. “The ballots are out of control. You know it, and you know who knows it better than anyone else? The Democrats know it better than anyone else.”
McConnell’s tweet is a rare comment on Trump, as the majority leader rarely references the president’s remarks, especially not to critique them. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) also commented on Trump’s refusal to commit to a peaceful transition, basing the president’s comments as “unthinkable and unacceptable.”
Trump’s remarks caused outrage on the left as well — many members of the media sounding the alarm, and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes even called the move “a coup to steal the election.”
