Biden warns of Trump's reaction to defeat
The last defeat of Donald Trump in the election ended in the storming of the Capitol by his incited supporters. Even after this presidential election, there could be violence, US Democrats fear. In their view, a Trump victory could pose an even greater threat.
US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have warned of a threat to democracy in the United States from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Biden said in an interview with CBS, when asked if he expected a peaceful transfer of power next year: "I'm not sure at all if Trump loses." Biden continued, looking at Trump: "He means what he says. We don't take him seriously. But he's serious about all that talk about a bloodbath if they lose."
The president was referring to a controversial remark by Trump at a campaign event in March, where he warned of a "bloodbath" if he didn't win the election. Trump later explained that he was referring to the US auto industry.
The former president is facing charges of attempted illegal election interference in Washington D.C. and Georgia. After Biden surprisingly withdrew from the campaign last month, his vice president, Kamala Harris, is now the Democratic candidate against Trump.
Harris refers to Trump's dictator statement
Meanwhile, Democratic presidential candidate Harris warned against a second term for Trump. She referred to a statement by Trump that he would become a dictator on the "first day" after a November election victory, and to a statement by the former president about suspending the constitution. "Someone who proposes that we suspend the Constitution of the United States should never again have the opportunity to stand behind the seal of the President of the United States," Harris said at a campaign event in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. She called on people in the USA to reject "chaos, fear, and hate."
Trump, who lost the 2020 presidential election to Biden, continues to falsely claim that he was cheated out of a second term by election fraud. "A massive fraud of this magnitude and scale allows for the suspension of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those in the Constitution," Trump wrote at the time on his online network Truth Social.
Supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol, the seat of parliament, in Washington after his defeat to Biden. There, Congress had gathered to formally confirm Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election. Trump had previously incited his supporters with unfounded claims that his election victory had been stolen through massive fraud. Trump himself was charged in two cases - in a federal court in Washington and by the justice system of the state of Georgia - for his attempts to overturn his defeat to Biden. The conservative-dominated US Supreme Court, however, granted Trump broad immunity from prosecution for past actions as president in early July.
Joe Biden, the current US President, and Kamala Harris, his vice president, have expressed concerns about a potential threat to democracy from former President Donald Trump. Harris specifically referred to Trump's statement about becoming a dictator if he were to win the election, stating that someone who proposes suspending the Constitution should never hold the office of President again.
