Columnist: Trump needs to be asked this question on the campaign trail — every day

Former President Donald Trump needs to face constant pressure about his role in the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, columnist Colbert King wrote for The Washington Post.

This comes as special counsel Jack Smith unveils a superseding indictment in the federal election interference case, designed to comply with the Supreme Court’s finding that presidents have a presumption of immunity for official acts. Trump has reacted to the indictment with a deluge of fury on social media — and the press has not responded with the urgency it deserves, King argued.

“Trump is being covered by the press as if Jan. 6 were old news,” wrote King. In fact, he added, based on how the media is treating the political field, “I might conclude that the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election, was merely the act of exuberant ‘patriots’ voicing their displeasure with Joe Biden’s victory — and that Donald Trump had nothing to do with it.What else to think, based on the media’s treatment of the twice-impeached former president and felon and his campaign to return to the White House?”

This is why Trump needs to be asked a very specific question every day on the campaign trail, he continued: will you accept the 2024 election results? Something he has been asked occasionally, and answered the same way he did in 2020: only if he’s satisfied with it.

“Why would a president ignore findings by his own Justice Department that there was no evidence of significant election fraud, then turn to an ad hoc crew of co-conspirators to try to undo what American voters had done?” King wrote. The media needs to treat this as a much more fundamental issue, he warned — because it could easily happen again.”

He noted the insurrection resulted in about $2.7 billion in costs, attacks on more than 170 police officers and seven deaths.

“America does not deserve a repeat of that Trump performance. The nation needs to know in advance whether, this time around, Donald Trump is committed to accepting the 2024 results. He should be asked that whenever he shows his face in public. Every. Single. Time.”