Hold Trump’s feet to the fire about COVID deaths and whether he’ll leave if he loses | Opinion
Here are the key questions President Trump should be asked in the Sept. 29 presidential debate — and why you should not vote for him unless he answers them as any law-abiding American would.
First: “Will you do as your predecessors in the nearly 250-year history of America’s democracy have done and respect the outcome of the presidential election, no matter who wins?”
It’s mind-boggling that a U.S. president would have to be asked this question, which until now was reserved for autocrats such as Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro or Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
But, much like in 2016, Trump has in recent days repeatedly claimed — not based on any serious evidence — that the Nov. 3 elections will be “rigged” by the Democrats. He has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses. He also has suggested he may want to run for a third term, which would be unconstitutional. The latest NBC News polling average has Trump losing by more than 8 points.
(Note to Fox News’ Chris Wallace, who will be the sole moderator of the first debate: Trump will probably repeat his false allegation that the election will be rigged because of mail in-votes, because the Democrats are expected to vote by mail in larger numbers than Republicans. So Trump is setting the stage for nullifying mail-in votes and declare himself the winner on election night. As moderator, don’t allow Trump to get away with his usual answer, “We will have to see what happens.”)
There is no excuse for a president to even question the most sacred tenet of America’s democracy: free elections and a peaceful transfer of power. If a U.S. president is not willing to accept an election result, it’s the end of America’s democracy.
Second: President Trump, regarding your claim that your response to the COVID-19 crisis has been excellent, how do you explain that the United States, with only 4 percent of the world’s population, has 21 percent of the world’s coronavirus deaths?
(Note to Wallace: Every time Trump is asked about this, he shifts the conversation toward COVID-19 cases, tests or vaccines, to avoid talking about deaths. Press him on the pandemic’s deaths, which is what really counts. And if he keeps deflecting the issue, ask him how he explains that the United States has 62 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000
people, compared with Germany’s 11 deaths per 100,000 or South Korea’s 0.7 deaths per 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins University figures. Isn’t it because he consistently minimized the pandemic and led millions of Americans to refuse to wear masks and respect social distancing?)
Third: President Trump, regarding your claim that, before the pandemic, you created “the greatest economy in the history of the world,” what do you say about U.S. government data showing that your claim is misleading?
The stock market grew more during former President Obama’s first term than during Trump’s. The U.S. economy grew more in 2015 under Obama than in any of Trump’s four years in office, according to Federal Reserve figures.
(One more note to Chris Wallace: Trump will reply that the U.S. unemployment rate hit a half-century low of 3.5 before the pandemic started, which is true. But you should remind him that U.S. unemployment fell much more dramatically under Obama, from a 10 percent rate in 2009 to a 4.7 percent in 2016, according to the U.S. Department of Labor statistics.)
If you are a Trump supporter, you are probably saying that my debate questions are unfair, because I’m not proposing equally pointed questions to Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
But as we approach the first debate, it’s Trump — not Biden — who is saying that he may not accept the election’s outcome and who has been in charge of the U.S. response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the economy.
It’s Trump who is raising the possibility that the United States may become an authoritarian state like Venezuela or Russia. That’s why it’s the president who should answer these questions in Tuesday’s debate. You may not like Biden’s positions on a number of issues, but he has not threatened to subvert America’s democracy.
Don’t miss the “Oppenheimer Presenta” TV show at 8 p.m. E.T. Sunday on CNN en Español. Twitter: @oppenheimera
