Bob Schwartz

There are two kinds of daily bad news about Trump:

Things he says or does.

Reasonable speculation, based on what he says or does, about what he might do in the future.

This speculation by Chris Cilliza is in that second category. It is both chilling and plausible:

Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to de-legitimize the 2020 election
Chris Cillizza, CNN Editor-at-large

Even as the 2020 race begins in earnest, President Donald Trump is already suggesting that Democrats cannot beat him fairly — raising the specter that if he loses next November, he will suggest that the election was not legitimate.

“The Democrats in Congress yesterday were vicious and totally showed their cards for everyone to see,” Trump tweeted Tuesday, referring to House Democrats’ launching of a broad-scale investigation into him. “When the Republicans had the Majority they never acted with such hatred and scorn! The Dems are trying to win an election in 2020 that they know they cannot legitimately win!”

Trump 2020 campaign press secretary Kayleigh McEnany echoed that sentiment in a statement on the Democratic investigations. “These desperate Democrats know they cannot beat President Trump in 2020, so instead they have embarked on a disgraceful witch hunt with one singular aim: topple the will of the American people and seize the power that they have zero chance at winning legitimately,” she said….

This is straight from the Trump blueprint — and not just in politics, either. In his past life as a businessman, Trump would regularly declare victory on a deal loudly and publicly — even when the facts didn’t bear out his bluster….

In the business world, that approach was mostly harmless. Trump could say whatever he wanted but, at the end of the day, it was pretty clear who won and who lost a deal. Money, usually, changed hands. And while lots of people Trump dealt with rolled their eyes about his massive exaggerations, they usually just ignored them.

In politics, Trump’s inability to accept that he could lose fair and square is far, far more dangerous.

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former longtime fixer, said as much during his congressional testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee last month. “Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power,” said Cohen.

Sit with that for a minute. And realize what it would mean if the sitting incumbent President of the United States simply refuses to concede he has lost in 2020.