Was New York Times columnist Frank Bruni suggesting there could be civil unrest if Donald Trump loses big and bitterly? That seemed a likely implication of his comments on today’s Morning Joe. Bruni said his “fear” is: “what if he goes down big and goes down bitterly? I really worry about the aftermath. I worry about November 9th and forward in terms of what’s been stirred up.”
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson tried to soothe poor Frank’s fears: “We survived Bush-Gore 2000, we made it through that just fine and I think we’ll make it through post-Trump just fine, too.”
The notion that the Trump base is going to take to the streets in an unruly way should Trump lose big seems not just farfetched, but a slur on the sort of good people who show up at Trump rallies. What do readers think?
FRANK BRUNI: I have a different fear, because we’ve seen this in statements he’s said recently. That’s [one Joe Scarborough described] a very benign theory. What if he’s not just playing this out? And what if he goes down big and goes down bitterly? I really worry about the aftermath. I worry about November 9th and forward in terms of what’s been stirred up. We haven’t had someone to lose sorely in the way Trump is telegraphing he would lose if he does lose and that’s a scary thing.JOE SCARBOROUGH: He’s already talking, Mika, about election rigged.BRUNI: Exactly.JOE: And you’ve got certain people on TV that are drooling out the left side of their mouth and suggesting the election is rigged and a lot of other people are. The election’s not rigged.. . .EUGENE ROBINSON: Look, one thing — Frank, I hope you’re wrong about your concern about November 9th. I kind of don’t share that. I think that there would be some bitter people if he goes down and goes down big. He might go down swinging. But we survived Bush-Gore 2000, we made it through that just fine and I think we’ll make it through post-Trump just fine, too.MIKA BRZEZINSKI: And he [made] Clinton better.BRUNI: We survived Bush-Gore just fine, but Al Gore and Donald Trump are too very, very different people. And nothing about the way Donald Trump — nothing about the way Donald Trump is comporting himself suggests to me he will lose with anything approaching the grace that Al Gore lost with in the end. Big, big difference.JOE: So what happens next?BRUNI: What happens next? I don’t know! I mean, we’re in uncharted terrain and we have been from the very beginning of this campaign.
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