How Cincinnati Reds surprising source of Opening Day power was just the way they planned
NEWS

Trump's refusal to concede OK or even 'genius,' say local GOPers

Keith BieryGolick
kbierygolick@enquirer.com
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump declined to say in Wednesday's debate whether he would accept the results of the election.

Donald Trump's refusal to say he'll accept the results of the presidential election is just fine by several top Republicans in Greater Cincinnati.

One called the GOP nominee's stance "genius." Another called him a "maverick."

They blame the media for painting Trump's comments in a negative light and say the press has made too much of their candidate's refusal to do what every other American presidential candidate has done for the past two centuries: Accept the results, win or lose.

Trump ignited the firestorm Wednesday at the debate when moderator Chris Wallace asked whether he'd concede if he lost.

"I will look at it at the time," he said. When pressed, he said, "I'll keep you in suspense, OK?"

Ray Warrick, fiscal officer of suburban Hamilton Township and former chairman of the Warren County Republican Party.

While some Democrats and mediaslammed him for it, top Republicans in Greater Cincinnati loved it.

“It wasn’t a gaffe, it was a genius move on his part," said Ray Warrick, the former GOP chairman in Warren County. "If you look at his supporters, the grand majority do not trust the election because they do not trust the government. It was a genius position to take.

"Joe Blow America is generally speaking not sophisticated and is not involved in the ins and outs of politics," he continued. "But we know a couple things: The government is corrupt and we don’t trust it.”

Hamilton County's GOP chairman, Alex Triantafilou, also is OK with Trump saying he might not accept the results of the election. Triantafilou, who will help oversee the election as a member of the county's board of elections, said he's not bothered by Trump's comments, even though he personally thinks "we'll run a fair general election."

"Assuming nothing catastrophic happens, I would accept the results," Triantafilou said.

Asked if he would prefer if his party's nominee couched his answer in such a way, Triantafilou said no. He's fine with Trump's reluctance to embrace the voters' verdict on election night.

"I like that he's a maverick," Triantafilou said. "He's different than most politicians."

Less than 24 after the debate Thursday, Trump fanned the flames again by telling a crowd in Delaware County, Ohio, he would accept the election results, "if I win."

Republicans say lines like that are firing up supporters. Republican-heavy Butler County, like neighboring Warren County, has been credited with helping Republicans win presidential elections before, but GOP Chairman Todd Hall said he's never seen anything like the energy Trump has brought to the county.

“And the more that the media slams him and possible false accusations come out it just stirs more voters up," said Hall. "It’s great for the election up here because no one is sitting on their hands. Everyone is doing everything they can.”

He brushed off the fairly unprecedented nature of what Trump is talking about by possibly not accepting election results.

“I think Republicans haven’t seen that happen before because we haven’t seen the media do what the media is doing before. I think they backed (Trump) into a corner," Hall said. “That is really what he is trying to portray – that he hasn’t been treated fairly. It didn’t have anything to do with him conceding. It had to do with the unfair advantage democratic party have (because of the media).”