Taking Trump to task: Candidate must acknowledge that election system works

Donald Trump certainly isn't making it easy to support him for president.

This newspaper endorsed Mr. Trump's White House bid earlier this week, and we continue to stand by that endorsement.

But that doesn't mean we have to agree with everything he says.

Trump's refusal to concede that he will abide by the outcome of the November election, win or lose, is troubling. It plays upon the fears of those voters who naively assume everything is crooked.

America's reliance on a fair exchange of power based on the outcome of the electoral college system is what has made this country the envy of the world. Without a peaceful exchange of power there would be chaos.

Mr. Trump insists that this election is "rigged." But he has offered scant evidence to back up this claim, and even members of his own party have chastised him for undermining the basic tenet of our system of government -- that elections are fair.

We hope that between now and Election Day that becomes abundantly clear to him, whether he emerges victorious or not.

Published in Editorials on October 21, 2016 9:50 AM