Yes, I know that there’s no such word as “unpresidented.” However, what our current president is doing is “unprecedented,” and is unlike what any other president in American history has even hinted at doing.

A hallmark of our nation’s democracy has been the peaceful transfer of power between political opponents. The loser of every presidential election in U.S. history has peacefully surrendered power to the winner, despite whatever personal animosity or political divisions might exist.

But in an unprecedented move, our current president, Donald Trump, has outright refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power after the November election. “We’re going to see what happens. Get rid of the ballots and you’ll have a very peaceful — there won’t be a transfer, frankly. There will be a continuation.”

Oh my fucking God! “Get rid of the ballots”? “A continuation”? I think he means “a coronation.”

You may remember that this is not the first time that Trump has equivocated about the results of a presidential election. In 2016, prior to that year’s election, Trump also declined to commit to honoring the election results if his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, won, claiming that the only way she could win would be if the election was rigged. Even though she did win the popular vote by almost three million, she lost the Electoral College vote — don’t get me started on the Electoral College — giving the Office of the President to Trump. Yet still, his fragile ego would not allow him to accept that more people voted for Clinton than for him. Trump tried to claim that those three million votes for Hillary were fraudulent and/or illegal. Of course, there was no evidence to support such a claim.

As I posted yesterday, “Trump is going to do everything he can, with active help from his pal Vladimir, to stay in office regardless of the legitimate outcome of the election.” Now, Trump’s refusal to commit to what is perhaps the most fundamental tenet of American democracy, has cast serious doubt around the November election and its aftermath. And if he continues with his unfounded and insane rhetoric, and riles up his gun-toting, far right, white nationalist supporters, the days between the November 3rd election and the scheduled January 20th inauguration, will throw the United States into a chaos such as it hasn’t experienced since the American Civil War a century and a half ago.

As I’ve said on this blog many times over the past year (here and here, for example), buckle up, America, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.