WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump is once again not committing to accepting the election results in Wisconsin if he loses, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he’ll only accept the outcome if the election is “honest.”
“We're all not quite sure how to deal with somebody who sort of is living in his own political world, and will not agree to the facts that really the whole system has agreed to,” said Mordecai Lee, professor emeritus at UW-Milwaukee.
Trump won Wisconsin in 2016, beating Democrat Hillary Clinton. And then he lost the state four years later to Joe Biden. Audits financed by his campaign of absentee ballots in Dane and Milwaukee counties, independent studies and court rulings all confirmed Trump lost Wisconsin by about 21,000 votes in 2020. Still, in an interview with Spectrum News this week, Trump repeated his bogus claim that he won Wisconsin by “much more” in 2020 than he did four years earlier.
“Former President Trump, who really seems to be sort of single mindedly about himself and his own success, is willing to destroy the system at some level, you know, then to perhaps have to accept a defeat,” said Kathleen Dolan, a distinguished professor at UW-Milwaukee. “And that's what January 6 was. I mean, January 6 was a literal insurrection against our democratic system. So, I think it's very dangerous that he is continuing along this road.”
Wisconsin Democrats in Congress denounced Trump’s claims. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, told Spectrum News, “With no basis in reality, Donald Trump is once again doubling down on his 'big lie.'”
And Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., added, “Wisconsinites have seen this playbook before and have said loud and clear that they don’t want anyone trying to throw away their vote or undermining our free and fair elections.”
But some Republican members of Congress are declining to criticize Trump. Congressman Tom Tiffany, R-Minocqua, echoed the former president’s remarks about this year’s voting.
“I will accept the results of a good, clean, fair election,” he said.
Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, added that there should be efforts to ensure voters are following the rules.
“There's nothing wrong with doing that,” Steil said. “But we have a big opportunity for a safe and secure election this November.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that President Joe Biden would accept the will of the people.