President Trump will accept defeat if he does not win a second term in the White House, he said in an interview aired Friday, dismissing concerns he could try to remain in office.
“Certainly, if I don’t win, I don’t win,” Mr. Trump told Fox News host Harris Faulkner, adding he would “go on and do other things” in the event he loses the upcoming election.
“I think it would be a very bad thing for our country,” Mr. Trump said about potentially serving just a single term.
Mr. Trump weighed in on what he would do if defeated in response to being asked about remarks his Democratic rival Joseph R. Biden recently made about the presidential race.
“This president’s going to try to steal this election,” Mr. Biden said during an interview aired Thursday on “The Daily Show,” adding that he is “absolutely convinced” the military will escort Mr. Trump from the White House if he loses the race and refuses to leave.
Asked about Mr. Biden’s remarks, Mr. Trump said: “Look, Joe’s not all there. Everybody knows it. And it’s sad, when you look at it, and you see it, you see it for yourself.”
Mr. Biden is hardly the only one of Mr. Trump’s critics to entertain the prospect of him refusing to leave the White House if voted out, however. Bill Maher, a liberal comedian who mocks Mr. Trump regularly on his weekly HBO program, has been saying for the last several years that he does not think the president will willingly leave if he loses in November. Mr. Trump, on his part, has previously dismissed his concerns and accordingly called the comedian a “wacko.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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