Protesters bracing for ‘the worst’ if Donald Trump refuses to concede defeat

With United
States President Donald Trump repeatedly refusing clarify if he will concede power
to Democratic challenger Joe Biden peacefully in case of a victory for the
latter in the November 3 election, protesters are gearing up “for the worst”.

One such
individual is 34-year-old Sean Eldridge, an organiser of a coalition which plans
to hold demonstrations across the United States in case the incumbent refuses
to bow out of the White House following the vote, AFP reported.

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“This is
pretty unprecedented in American politics to have to be worried about whether a
sitting president will accept the election results and ensure a peaceful
transition of power,” Eldridge said.

Trump has
decried the tens of millions of mail-in ballots this year due to the
coronavirus pandemic, suggesting voter fraud through that medium could prevent
him from retaining his position for another four years.

A former
Democratic candidate for the US Congress, Eldridge is one of the leading
figures behind the successful drive to legalise gay marriage in the US. He has
now taken charge of the New York-based anti-Trump organisation ‘Stand Up
America’.

“This is
work that I never hoped that we would have to do. (But) we have to take him at
his word when he says he may not accept the election outcome. Certainly, everything
we’ve seen from him over the past three and a half years has been a total lack
of respect for democratic norms and for our election processes,” he told AFP.

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Eldridge has
been the driving force behind a number of protests across the nation, which recently
witnessed overwhelming support for demonstrations against racial discrimination
following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

‘Protect
the Results’ is a coalition that has arranged for almost 250 protests spread all
over the US mainland, from New York to Las Vegas and from Maine to Florida.

The group
has brought together over a hundred organisations, particularly ones campaigning
against climate change and for women’s and LGBTQ rights, and at least one anti-Trump
group. Eldridge says they are made up of tens of millions of people.

Although
the location of the protests is yet to be determined, participants have been
notified that demonstrations may begin at 5:00 pm (21:00 GMT) on November 4. The
unusually high number of mail-in ballots may cause the election result to remain
unclear for a few days or more.

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“We need to
make sure that any corrupt pressure from Trump to undermine the election
results will be met by a swift response from the American people to demand that
every vote be counted and demand that the final valid results be respected,”
Eldridge said.

Trump,
meanwhile, has urged his supporters to go to polling stations and “watch very
carefully” for any attempts of fraud, although there is very little history of
such instances in the history of US elections.

The
president’s campaign launched a website, which urged supporters to undertake
election tasks such as visiting voters’ houses and registering Republican
voters.

However, opponents
have expressed apprehensions about the website’s name, ‘Army for Trump’, and
his refusal to denounce ‘Proud Boys’ a far-right groups which he called on to “stand
back and stand by” during a debate with Biden.

With
tempers flaring across an extremely divided nation, law enforcement agencies
have been warned to prepare for the outbreak of violence around the election. The
Washington Post quoted an anonymous FBI official saying that the federal police
were “paying particularly close attention” to potential civil unrests.

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The New
York Police Department has notified its officials to prepare for demonstrations
that could last until 2021.

Eldridge
says the Protect the Results coalition will respect is Trump emerges victorious
and there is “no serious interference”.

“I hope we
will not have to mobilise,” Eldridge says. However, even if they have to do, he
says demonstrations will be non-violent.

“We are not
going to be intimidated by the dangerous rhetoric and the violence we are
seeing on the other side,” he added.