Stay informed with FP’s news and analysis as the United States prepares to vote.
Forget for a moment all the potential foreign-policy implications of a second Donald Trump presidency. What are the implications for U.S. foreign policy if Trump loses the election, denies its outcome, and tries to overturn it? How would the United States, longtime champion of democracy promotion abroad, be able to continue doing so when it has become clear that so much of the country has so little support for the actual exercise of democracy?
If Trump performs as he did in 2020 and narrowly loses the upcoming election—and polls suggest the race remains a toss-up—the likelihood of a repeat of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and a concerted effort to subvert the outcome again appears high.
Forget for a moment all the potential foreign-policy implications of a second Donald Trump presidency. What are the implications for U.S. foreign policy if Trump loses the election, denies its outcome, and tries to overturn it? How would the United States, longtime champion of democracy promotion abroad, be able to continue doing so when it has become clear that so much of the country has so little support for the actual exercise of democracy?
If Trump performs as he did in 2020 and narrowly loses the upcoming election—and polls suggest the race remains a toss-up—the likelihood of a repeat of the “Stop the Steal” campaign and a concerted effort to subvert the outcome again appears high.
Both Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, have repeatedly refused to say whether they’ll accept the outcome of the election (unless they win). The mechanics for a similar challenge to the election’s outcome, focusing on replacing legitimate state electors with fraudulent electors, which was invented on the fly in late 2020, has been significantly built up. Election experts fear Trump has a more robust plan to overturn the election than his ultimately failed bid after the 2020 vote. And he’s already saying as........