NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: "The words you heard from Donald Trump are what you expect from a third world dictator" https://t.co/U5FwBjMqzh
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) October 20, 2016
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) says Donald Trump’s refusal to commit to accepting the result of the presidential election makes him sound like a dictator.
“The words you heard from Donald Trump are the words you expect from a third-world dictator, what you expect from a military leader about to attempt a coup in a foreign country, not from an American presidential candidate,” de Blasio said Thursday on CNN’s “New Day.”
{mosads}“So he sets up this fantasy to justify why he lost, but it’s dangerous. There’s been so many studies of voter dynamics around the country that prove there is no meaningful voter fraud in this country at this time.”
De Blasio accused the Republican presidential nominee of stoking racism by insisting the election is “rigged” against him.
“What Trump is doing is trying to plant another racist seed where he suggests that any kind of voter fraud happens in cities, happens in communities of color,” he said.
“It’s just a classic tool. It’s a tactic to try to undermine the democratic process.”
De Blasio praised Republicans, including Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who have disavowed Trump’s claims about the election’s legitimacy.
“I was very impressed last night that people like Lindsey Graham came out and said, ‘This is unacceptable, undemocratic.’ ”
At Wednesday night’s final presidential debate of 2016 in Las Vegas, Trump demurred when asked if he would accept the results of the general election.
“I will look at it at the time,” he said. “I’m not looking at anything now.”
Trump added he would keep Americans in “suspense” as to whether he would accept the election result.
Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton responded by blasting Trump’s position as contrary to basic American democracy.
“This is how Donald thinks. It’s funny, but it’s really troubling,” she said. “That is not the way our democracy works.”
Clinton currently leads Trump in most national polls and in the majority of swing states.