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“I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win.” Doesn’t take more than one small layer of perfectly reasonable

• jlawson 7y ago
  It takes at least three layers: Interpretation Layer 1: He's mocking critics who were saying he wouldn't accept the outcome. Since he's mocking, he's not serious. You have to interpret a mocking response as serious. Interpretation Layer 2: He never said he wouldn't accept if he lost. You have to infer that yourself. Interpretation Layer 3: He said 'totally', which often means the alternative is 'not totally'. He could have meant he would just complain about the results, but still accept them. To think he would fully reject them in an outright, actionable way you need to interpret the words in a special way. -- So the original statement was false as I said. Nothing here is even close to 'outright' saying he wouldn't accept the result.