US President Donald Trump yesterday refused to give an assurance that he will transfer power if he loses the November election, and becomes the object of mockery earning for his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden and even from within his own party.

When asked at a White House press conference whether he is committed to the most basic tenet of democratic rule in the United States which is the peaceful handover of power upon a change of president, Trump retorted, “Well, we’re going to have to see what happens.”

On the other hand, his opponent, Biden, who holds a steady lead over the Republican incumbent in opinion polls ahead of the November 3 election, expressed incredulity.

When asked about Trump’s comment by reporters, Biden said, “What country are we in?  

“Look, he says the most irrational things. I don’t know what to say.”

A frequent but seldom party critic of Trump, Republican Senator Mitt Romney, went further to say that any hesitation on the core constitution guarantee was “unthinkable and unacceptable.” And tweeted that “fundamental to democracy is the peaceful transition of power; without that, there is Belarus.”

Trump followed up his remarks, an unprecedented act in modern times for a US president, by resuming his near daily complaint about the fairness of the election.

While obviously referring to the increased use of mail-in ballots due to the coronavirus pandemic, he said: “You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster.”

Trump is notorious for claiming that mail-in ballots are susceptible to mass fraud and are being encouraged by Democrats to rig the election. But there is no evidence that ballots sent through the postal service have ever led to significant fraud in US elections.

At the press conference, Trump seemed to suggest cancelling what are expected to be the huge numbers of mailed-in ballots, arguing that in such a scenario, he would remain in power as put in his words: “Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There’ll be a continuation.”

Trump on Wednesday said he thinks the election “will end up in the Supreme Court.”