Too Far Gone

There's a lot of negativity and cynicism going on around the 2020 elections in America, all of it to do with the legitimacy of Joe Biden's win over Donald Trump. Or rather: Donald Trump's loss to Joe Biden; I believe this election was much more of a referendum on Trump's presidency than a real choice for Joe Biden.

The negativity and cynicism is mostly coming from one particular group: the Republican party and those who are persuaded by claims that there's widespread election fraud going on and that the election was stolen from Donald Trump. What's so incomprehensible about this, for me at least, is that Trump never had faith in the legitimacy of American elections, not even when he won in 2016. And in both elections he participated in, 2016 and this year, he announced that he would not accept any outcome other than a win. For a half year he has been preparing this misinformation campaign about election fraud in the open: he told us all that this is what he would do, even before there was a chance to point at possible proof of tampering with the count. So, when we all know that he would never accept a loss, no matter what the circumstances are, why would anyone believe anything he has to say about election fraud?

For as long as Trump has been involved in politics, he's done nothing but complain about how bad he's treated by everyone but his most ardent supporters. Even Fox News now is on his blacklist because they made the mistake of accepting reality, the reality that he lost the election. Trump is incapable of accepting defeat. Anderson Cooper said it best when he compared trump to an "obese turtle on his back flailing in the hot sun, realizing his time is over." Cooper has since apologized for that remark, but I find it an apt description of Trump's behavior, and it was timed perfectly after Trump again falsely claimed victory in the presidential race. Maybe he could have left out the "obese" part. Since making that claim, Trump hasn't been seen in public, only his outrageous tweets. This behavior should be disqualifying in anyone's mind, as he now for a week hasn't done any governing, and refuses to work with president-elect Joe Biden and his team. He's trying to hold on to the job he's hiding from at the moment.

There's still no proof of widespread election fraud. None. And all but a few minor claims have been dismissed by the courts. And even if those claims were granted and if he won them all, the numbers we're talking about wouldn't be nearly enough to flip the overall results. As it stands Biden will have 306 electoral votes when everything's said and done and will have an overall victory of between 4 and 5 million votes nation-wide. That's just too much to overcome with a few hundred here and 50 there, if these claims were to be granted to the Trump team. But Trump won't hear any of it, and neither will his most hardcore supporters. There's no getting through to these people; they're too far gone. A recent poll showed that 79 percent of Americans believe Joe Biden has won, and approximately 60 percent of Republicans say the same:

The overwhelming majority of Americans say President-elect Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election amid unsubstantiated cries of fraud from President Trump, according to a Reuers/Ipsos poll released Tuesday.

The survey, conducted from Saturday afternoon to Tuesday, showed 79 percent of U.S. adults believe Biden is the winner of the presidential election. Approximately 60 percent of Republicans said Biden won.
_{source: The Hill}

That's good. But that still leaves 40 percent of Republicans, 21 percent of Americans, who I have a difference of opinion with. No, this transcends the realm of differences of opinion; this is more a difference of reality, we're entering the realm of alternative facts here. As things stand now there's no reason whatsoever to doubt the Donald Trump has lost. But that's not something his supporters will ever accept. Remember back to 2016, when Trump made this claim about his supporters:

US Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is so confident in his support base that he said he could stand on New York’s Fifth Avenue “and shoot somebody” and still not lose voters.
_{source: The Guardian}

And he was right: they'll defend him no matter what ridiculous claim he makes. I keep open the possibility that maybe someday someone will provide a reason to change my mind, but I haven't seen any among the countless claims I've witnessed so far. And until that day, Trump should go back to doing his job, and leave the election where it belongs: in the states. It's so sad that Republicans, who normally are so against federal intervention in states'affairs now have no problem with Trump involving the federal Department Of Justice in this horrible series of unsubstantiated fraud claims. Every claim of fraud that's put before a judge dwindles away with every question. The so called whistle blower from USPS recanted his claim and then recanted his recantation after he was grilled by postal service investigative agents, and his claim was based on hearsay in the first place; wouldn't hold up in court, only in one of Project Veritas' propaganda campaigns. See the above linked video. It's so sad.

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