Loser Donald J. Trump is pushing a conspiracy theory in the court system that, “If you only count the legal votes, I won.”
(Deja vu: Trump claimed, back in 2016, that if the “illegal votes weren’t counted” he would have won the popular vote for President. Hillary Clinton outpolled him by 3 million votes in that contest.)
According to the President and his attorneys, a vast conspiracy of Democrats and other bad guys engineered his almost 6 million vote loss to Joe Biden earlier in the month, and that heinous and traitorous behavior was most prevalent in urban areas heavily populated by African Americans.\
And to be more specific, only in those areas within key battleground states where Donald Trump prevailed in the 2016 election. That would include Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.
And, according to Trump’s attorneys, this skullduggery only affected the contest for President, meaning that the same, tainted elections processes (in-person and mail-in voting, and machine and manual vote counting) in those states were somehow pristine when they involved the elections of twenty-eight Republicans to the House of Representatives on that same day.
(By the way, in most states that I am familiar with, ballot handling and tabulation, when not accomplished by machine, involves election officials of both parties working together to ensure accuracy. The idea that Democrat bad guys in “the back room” were perverting the process doesn’t make sense since their Republican teammates were present at the same time. When someone alleges an illegal count, they are therefore accusing both Democrats and Republicans elections officials of wrongdoing. It doesn’t make a lot of sense because it wouldn’t happen.)
Thus, the President’s claim is that the effort to “steal” the election from him was quite surgical in nature, orchestrated by a variety of evil doers which has included Hillary Clinton, George Soros, Barack Obama, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, and Democratic National Committee lackeys burrowed deep in local and state government structures. (And Republican elections officials who went rogue, too, like the Georgia Secretary of State and the City Commissioner in Philadelphia.)
Voting irregularities cited by the Trump team include: ballots cast by children, non-citizens and dead people; voting tabulation errors by hacked machines; inadequate freedom granted to Republican poll watchers; ballot dumping by Democrat Party-affiliated election officials; incompletely filled-out ballot envelopes; votes not counted because a Sharpie was used to mark the ballot; mail-in ballots lacking voter addresses; improperly sealed secrecy envelopes; backdated ballots; and, counting votes after the polls close (!)
(This last one is a doozy. The vote tabulation process in every State never ends on Election Day; in fact, the official results aren’t known for weeks, and they are the only ones that count toward earning Electoral Votes. That’s why the Electoral College meets in December. A reason for Trump’s insistence on Election Day results only is because, in many States, absentee and other mail-in votes are counted last. Trump has stated that he believes that “mail-in voting disadvantages Republicans”. So, if those votes weren’t counted, presumably it would disadvantage his opponent Joe Biden.)
The Trump team’s public allegations of widespread illegal and fraudulent election activity, in those critical battleground states, have gained no traction in the court system. At least 31 suits have been heard thus far and the Trump team has prevailed in but one case…allowing Republican poll watchers to move slightly closer to elections officials as they count the votes.
The reason for the virtual shutout in the court system is due to two related factors: (1) No factual evidence brought by the Trump attorneys; and, (2) The ethical standards of the “bar” (i.e. the authority in each state which grants licenses to attorneys to practice law). Basically, it is unethical for a lawyer to bring a case without factual merit and it is unethical to argue fraudulent behavior without evidence. Trump’s lawyers want to please the client but are unwilling to face disbarment.
Accordingly, most high-profile election attorneys have declined to get involved in Trump’s fight. In desperation, the President is now employing ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who hasn’t argued a case in court in thirty years, to stand sheepishly before judges with little evidence.
When pressed by judges on the allegation of fraud in the election, the Trump team is quick to respond that they are not arguing that fraud occurred. This is critical, because they would then have to prove it with facts…which they do not possess…or possibly be cited for wasting the court’s time on a meritless case.
As one dubious judge admonished a Trump lawyer, the case was “hearsay within hearsay”. No facts, no case.
Thus, it appears that the Trumpian “stolen election” master strategy doesn’t necessarily involve winning a slew of lawsuits filed in those battleground states. Instead, the legal offensive is meant to delay the election outcome certification process to the point that the process would not meet the state legal requirement for certification by a specific date…thereby requiring the state Legislature or Governor to appoint his own slate of electors to the Electoral College in December. In that manner, a Republican could be awarded the victory that a Democrat had earned.
It is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters in several states and potentially reverse the outcome of the 2020 election which favored Joe Biden.
Trump spent part of this week attempting bully/influence/extort election certifying officials in Georgia and Michigan to not officially acknowledge Biden’s obvious win in those states.
No President of the United States has ever stooped this low to re-engineer an election outcome. However, Donald J. Trump is not your typical President: he is a man with virtually no ethical scruples who only thinks of himself. So, this grotesque exercise in delegitimizing our democracy in not a surprise considering the many other shameful things that have occurred in the Trump Administration.
Same shit, different day.
What is a surprise, as a matter of fact, was the speed with which President Trump turned on his media supporter Fox News for not doing enough cheerleading for him during the failed 2020 campaign.
“What have you done for me lately?” seems to be the complaint, ignoring the fact that he owes his Presidency and his huge cult following to a bunch of Fox News hitmen who badgered Obama, Clinton, and his 2016 primary opponents. Donald Trump probably benefitted by as much as 100 million dollars in free advertising from the Fox network during the 2016 campaign…his mug was on camera virtually 24 hours per day.
As is typical of Donald Trump, someone must be found to blame for every Presidential misstep. The coronavirus pandemic? The Chinese and the W.H.O. The economic collapse? Democratic governors. Western wildfires? Sloppy forest managers not doing enough raking. Black Lives Matter protests? Socialists, Communists and Antifa.
His 2020 election loss? Fox News not working hard enough for the campaign.
Not surprising to anyone is the President’s failure to concede the election, as he is a stubborn guy used to getting his way. This attitude has filtered down to his head of the General Services Agency who, two weeks after the election results have been known, is refusing to “ascertain” who won and facilitate the transition between the Trump and Biden Administrations.
Just one more example of Donald J. Trump being a total asshole. In this case, by refusing to let Biden and friends get up to speed before January 20th, the President is putting the Nation’s security at risk.
Obviously that is not a concern for this so-called patriot.
The most recent “hearsay within hearsay” is the speculation about what Donald Trump will do after January 20th. There is rumor that he will get involved with Newsmax, a conservative competitor broadcast media. Other speculation is that he will run for President in 2024 or, at least, stay involved in politics to the point that he could be a kingmaker in 2024 if he so desired. Gossip has it that he will use his celebrity to make some money off of periodic Trump rallies, book deals, speaking engagements, and merchandise.
In essence, Trump’s political shadow will dampen the enthusiasm of Republican 2024 Presidential wannabes like Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, and Nikki Haley and might necessitate them kissing his ring to gain support of his 70 million supporters.
I wonder if I will live long enough that a day will come without the public mention of the monstrosity named Donald J. Trump?
Doubtful.