Twitter Users Skeptical After Mitch McConnell Promises Orderly Transition
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday sought to reassure Americans with a tweet promising an orderly transfer of power should President Donald Trump lose the election.
Trump the previous day wouldn’t commit to peacefully leave the White House if he loses, repeating baseless claims about mail-in ballot fraud and saying he needs to rush his replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in case the election lands in court.
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
But the way McConnell’s tweet was worded made many people on Twitter skeptical. Very skeptical. Especially in light of the Senate leader’s plan to confirm a new Supreme Court justice before the election, contradicting the election-year argument he made in 2016 when the Senate refused to consider then-president Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland.
NARRATOR: “The Senator was well known for lying shamelessly.” https://t.co/RLdvtGLTuO
— Cassandra, Irredeemable Pudgy Nobody (@ChrisWarcraft) September 24, 2020
I totally trust this guy to tell me the truth and not change his mind whenever it suits him and his president.
Lots of precedent of principled, non-hypocritical behavior here.
🙄🙄🙄 https://t.co/Or1FmovAnl— Holly Figueroa O'Reilly (@AynRandPaulRyan) September 24, 2020
Like trump when #MoscowMitch says something I find it hard to believe https://t.co/fzel7fCRb2
— Eric Garcia (@EricG1247) September 24, 2020
It's not really up to him, but just think about the fact the Senate Majority Leader is out here trying to reassure Americans we won't have a civil war this fall https://t.co/M79zTwlEhp
— Brandon Friedman (@BFriedmanDC) September 24, 2020
Well this matters a lot because I can’t think of one time McConnell said something and then said the exact opposite as soon as it benefitted him to do so. https://t.co/SxxtFP1pPm
— Ken Tremendous (@KenTremendous) September 24, 2020
Some people suggested that what wasn’t said in McConnell’s tweet was just as telling as what he did post.
What these tweets aren’t necessarily addressing is a will of the voters vs. will of the courts framing https://t.co/3f4UUI2dHn
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) September 24, 2020
It is the definition of “winner” that matters here. What he didn’t say is that all votes will be counted. https://t.co/PDxS9nV2VF
— Roshan Mody (@iamroshanmody) September 24, 2020
This is a subtle lean into a "definition" of election parameters (thereby negating any votes cast at other times). There may as well be red lights around the date. https://t.co/S7NtNSxQp8
— Heather Irene 🙏 (@heyheatherirene) September 24, 2020
What Senator Mitch McConnell’s tweet fails 2 address is likelihood we won’t know the winner November 3rd. US likely to have unprecedented mail-in voting + several states are allowing ballots to count provided they’re postmarked by 11.3 & returned by specific date https://t.co/aG9ll416s9
— Robbin Simmons (@RobbinSimmons7) September 24, 2020
This statement says nothing because it in no way accounts for a situation in which Trump loses and they claim he didn't https://t.co/HiggOLExCR
— Phil Owen (@philrowen) September 24, 2020
But one person on Twitter managed to put McConnell’s promise in its proper (and chilling) perspective.
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That this needs to be tweeted is the story. https://t.co/fQGKPM5gzU
— Matthew Smith (@MattSmithKIRO7) September 24, 2020
A few hours after McConnell’s tweet, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told reporters the president would “accept the results of a free and fair election.” But MSNBC journalist Kyle Griffin pointed out that even that statement left room for interpretation.
The White House press secretary just claimed that Trump "will accept the results of a free and fair elections." To be clear: That is NOT confirmation that he will accept the results. Trump will decide what is 'free and fair' on his own terms. Her statement is meaningless.
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 24, 2020
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.