Trump Says He’d Only Accept ‘Honest’ Wisconsin Election Result
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Former President Donald Trump left the door open to not accepting the 2024 election result in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Center bias) released Thursday.
Key Quote: “If everything's honest, I'd gladly accept the results,” Trump said, adding, “If it's not, you have to fight for the right of the country.” The former president, who lost the state of Wisconsin in 2020 by about 21,000 votes, insisted during the interview that he “won the election in Wisconsin.”
Related: When asked by TIME Magazine (Lean Left bias) earlier this week about whether there would be political violence following the 2024 election, Trump said, “And if we don't win, you know, it depends. It always depends on the fairness of an election.”
How the Media Covered It: Headlines across the spectrum often contradicted one another, saying Trump either “says he’ll accept 2024 election results” or “won’t commit to accepting 2024 election results.” Some on the left, like one New Republic (Left bias) opinion writer, took it further by saying Trump “is revealing the truth about who he is.”
Why the Difference: While Trump technically said he’d “accept the results,” his phrasing leaves room for him to not accept the results if, as in 2020, he deems the results to be “dishonest” — regardless of the evidence. Many media observers, especially those aligned with Trump’s opponents, have learned to treat statements like this with skepticism. Thus, while some headlines repeated Trump’s words, others treated the perceived meaning behind his words as the real story.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Right
Trump appears skeptical about accepting Wisconsin’s 2024 election resultsIn a new interview with a local Wisconsin newspaper, former President Donald Trump did not wholeheartedly agree to accept the 2024 election results of the Badger State if he lost.
“If everything’s honest, I’d gladly accept the results,” Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview on Wednesday as he rallied in Wisconsin but published Thursday morning. “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”
“But if everything’s honest, which we anticipate it will be — a lot of changes have been made over the last few years — but if everything’s...
From the Center
In interview, Trump doesn't commit to accepting Wisconsin election results if he losesFormer President Donald Trump on Wednesday didn't commit to accepting the results of Wisconsin's presidential election in November if he does not win and again promoted the falsehood that he won the Badger State in 2020.
In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the former president said he would accept the results of the November election showing he lost "if everything's honest."
"If everything's honest, I'd gladly accept the results," Trump said in an interview Wednesday. "If it's not, you have to fight for the right of the country....
From the Left
Trump Says Acceptance of Election Loss Will Depend on How “Honest” Results AreDuring a campaign stop this week in Waukesha, Wisconsin, former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in this year’s presidential election, indicated that he wouldn’t accept the election results if he loses.
When questioned by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about whether he’d concede should he lose the election to his Democratic opponent President Joe Biden, Trump framed the issue as being about honesty and pushed false talking points about election fraud.
“If everything’s honest, I’ll gladly accept the results,” Trump told the publication. “I don’t change on that. If it’s not,...
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