President Biden on Wednesday expressed deep skepticism that former President Trump would accept November’s election results if he loses, calling it “dangerous” behavior from his opponent.
“The guy is not a democrat with a small ‘d,'” Biden told CNN’s Erin Burnett.
“This is Trump … and he may not accept the outcome of the election? I promise you he won’t,” Biden added. “He won’t, which is dangerous. Look, I travel around the world with other world leaders. You know what they all say? Not a joke, 80 percent of them after you have a major meeting go, ‘You’ve gotta win. My democracy is at stake.'”
Biden cited Trump’s rhetoric on the campaign trail suggesting he would prosecute his political opponents and his vow to repeal major Democratic legislation that lowered the cost of certain prescription drugs, as well as a pledge to implement a 10 percent tariff on imports.
Trump has continued to push the false claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent and rigged against him, despite numerous court cases on the matter being dismissed and election officials at the federal and state level rebutting his claims.
Rioters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to try to stop the certification of Biden’s victory after Trump had called for supporters to rally in Washington, D.C., that day.
Last week, the former president indicated he would be reluctant to accept the results if he loses.
“If everything’s honest, I’d gladly accept the results,” Trump told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview Wednesday. “If it’s not, you have to fight for the right of the country.”
One of the core pillars of Biden’s reelection campaign has been warning voters that Trump poses a grave threat to democracy. But Trump leads Biden in battleground state polling, and the two are neck and neck in national polls.
Biden told CNN on Wednesday that he felt good about the state of his campaign, pointing to the strong organization his operation has compared to Trump, who has yet to open field offices in battleground states and has lagged behind in staffing.
“We’re doing the block and tackling. We’re going out and making sure we knock on doors, get folks out the old-fashioned way,” Biden said. “I think I’m feeling good about the trajectory of the campaign. And you know as well as I do, most people don’t really focus and make up their minds until the fall. There’s a lot going on. We’ll see what happens.”
