Would Donald Trump ever accept election defeat?

Donald Trump’s warning that Democratic victory in this year’s midterm elections will lead to left-wing “violence” aimed at overturning his conservative agenda has heightened fears of an all-out partisan war, regardless of who wins in November.

It follows the release of a secret audio recording leaked to NBC of a meeting with evangelical leaders at the White House this week, in which the US President said everything was at stake for his policies if his party loses control of Congress.

“It's not a question of like or dislike, it's a question that they will overturn everything that we've done and they will do it quickly and violently,” he said. “There is violence. When you look at Antifa [left-leaning anti-fascist groups] these are violent people.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Trump’s name will not be on the ballot come November, but midterm elections are seen as a key test of a president’s popularity. All 435 members of the House of Representatives and 35 seats in the 100-member Senate are up for election, along with 36 out of 50 state governors and numerous state and local government offices.

With polls suggesting the Democrats stand a fair chance of taking back the House of Representatives, Trump has gone on the offensive, doubling down against what he perceives as a biased liberal media.

The latest outburst was not, however, “the first time Trump has warned of violence if things did not go his way”, says The Daily Telegraph.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, he said his supporters would probably react violently if he did not win the Republican nomination.

"I think you'd have riots," he warned.

An editorial in The New York Times lists just some of the times he has incited or condoned violence: “At campaign rallies he fantasized about punching a foe in the face and urged his crowds to 'knock the crap out of' protesters, offering to pay their legal bills if they did. Reporters at his rallies have feared for their safety as they faced the 'enemy-of-the-people' fury Mr. Trump has sought to foment among his most passionate supporters.”

Infamously the president claimed that there had been violence on “many sides” after a white nationalist killed a left-wing demonstrator at a protest in Charlottesville last year.

Nor is it the first time he has hinted he could challenge the legitimacy of an election.

In a remarkable statement made just days before the 2016 vote, then-candidate Trump seemed to cast doubt on American democracy, claiming he might not accept the results if he felt it was rigged against him.

As The New York Times reported at the time, “Trump insisted, without offering evidence, that the general election has been rigged against him, and he twice refused to say that he would accept its result.”

Having long claimed to be the victim of a huge establishment “witch-hunt” to undermine and ultimately usurp his presidency, there are growing fears he could urge his supporters not to accept the midterm results should they go against him and his party.

Critics believe this could set up a potentially explosive all-or-nothing presidential race in 2020 that would irreparably split the country.