“I’ll keep you in suspense”: not as clever as he thinks!

Last updated on: October 20, 2016 at 6:22 am by Jane the Actuary

“I’ll keep you in suspense”: not as clever as he thinks! 2016-10-20T06:22:39-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So if you haven’t done so already, please read my summary of last night’s debate. But I wanted to highlight one issue: Trump’s response to the question of whether he will “accept the results of the election.”

Fundamentally, the answer was a mess. “I will decide at the time,” he said, and he sputtered about the media poisoning the minds of voters, and duplicate or ineligible voters wrongly on the rolls, and even the accusation that Clinton shouldn’t be able to run because “she’s guilty of a serious crime,” and that for all these reasons the election is rigged.

He’s pressed. Will he conceded?

And he says, with a smirk, “I’ll keep you in suspense.”

Folks, let’s presume that he doesn’t actually intend to encourage violence or riots or revolution. Let’s presume that we’re really talking about demands for recounts or investigations of voting irregularities, or perhaps petulent claims that it wasn’t the will of the voters, or wasn’t his fault in any way, that he lost, but rather a deceptive media which prevented the truth from being known. And twitter was abuzz last night with times in the recent past when Democrats insisted, long after an election was over, that it was lost only due to fraud, or when they promoted theories about Republicans and Diebold machines, and Democrats in turn parsed the meaning of “election” to claim that Gore “accepted the results of the election” because as long as there was still one more recount to be demanded, the “election” wasn’t over. (Yeah, this is a bit silly — I generally think of “election” as the vote-casting, not the vote-tallying, don’t you?)

But Trump could have simply said something like, “I know the media is making accusations that my supporters will start riots after the election is over, just like they accuse my supporters of being racist and ignorant and deplorable. But we know that it was Hillary’s campaign operatives who started the violence at my rallies. My supporters are good, honorable, law-abiding people. It’s true that I encourage them to monitor the election, and, like every candidate, I won’t rule out legal action if my advisors feel there has been fraud, but it’s despicable to accuse me or my supporters of anything else!”

But he didn’t. Not because he really does plan riots. He really seemed like he thought he was being clever last night with this statement. Leave ’em hanging. Be devious. Give his supporters something to cheer for.

But he wasn’t being clever. He was being a frickin’ idiot. Every word he said in that debate, every effort to project “I am a serious, credible candidate” was erased — maybe not right then and there, but in the reporting, in the attack ads, in the reaction to that statement in the remaining weeks.

Uncategorized

Election 2016

Trump

Previous Post

October 19, 2016

Debate #3, Live-blog!

Next Post

October 20, 2016 In other news, your government at work, FMLA edition

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was the first disciple to be martyred?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Peter Thomas Andrew James