November 10, 2020
Is the 2020 Election Really Over?
The media networks have called the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden… There was jubilation on the streets of Democrat majority cities across the country all weekend.
Finally, Democrats believed they had defeated the “great orange menace,” Donald Trump. As the narrative goes, the country could begin “going back to normal,” and Joe Biden would “listen to the science” (whatever that means) and get us past COVID-19.
Not so fast, Democrats…
The Trump campaign has currently filed around a dozen election-related lawsuits in states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Georgia. They are seeking to contest parts of the ballot-counting process as flawed, illegal, and fraudulent. So far there are far more allegations of ballot counting and voter fraud than actual proof of either, but the campaign promises that will change in the days ahead.
There’s certainly plenty of fishy facts about the election. The enormous surge of mail-in voting was clearly a game-changer for Democrats, though it’s not yet clear if they rigged said game.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a broad series of changes in how voting is done in many states, and the system was stressed as a result. There were already proven errors – like the software glitch in a Michigan county that improperly switched thousands of votes to Biden – but that’s not the main thrust of Trump’s allegations.
Trump has flat-out said he won the election and the only reason he is behind in vote tallies right now is because of Democrat fraud. Now that’s bold talk, even for a president who could care less about the way politicians generally speak.
At the center of the Trump campaign’s ire is the stunning (and some argue implausible) turnout of Democrat voters in urban centers like Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Detroit that were responsible for flipping those states blue. The Trump team simply doesn’t believe that this was all done fair and square.
Philadelphia gets the most attention as an alleged site of fraud. For one thing, it’s known historically for having corrupt elections. Earlier this year, there was a federal fraud prosecution of a Judge of Elections in that city, Domenick Demuro. The fraud was simple enough: Demuro allegedly took money from political consultants to add votes for various Democratic candidates. This wasn’t a complicated scheme. Demuro would wait until nobody was around, then he would start filling out and scanning through as many ballots as he could for the preferred candidate. There’s very little to stop such straightforward ballot stuffing, and it works.
Trump’s legal team believes similarly egregious fraud took place during this election cycle in Philadelphia, as well as other large Democrat-controlled cities. Now even if this did occur, proving it will be a major challenge.
Pennsylvania’s Governor Tom Wolf led the push to extend voting to any ballot that arrives within three days of the election, even without a valid postmark. This led to a legal fight that went all the way up to the Supreme Court. With a 4-to-4 tie, the highest court remanded back to the Circuit Court in Pennsylvania, which allowed the extension.
Were late ballots counted beyond the deadline? Did Democrats, knowing the deficit on election night, “find” just the right amount to push Biden over? These are the questions the Trump campaign wants answers to.
In an election of this size, there are a myriad of voting irregularities and fraudulent schemes that could occur. With almost 160 million Americans voting, there’s no question there were problems. What remains is for the Trump campaign and its lawyers to determine the scale.
This is a herculean task… on a tight timeline… and the odds are stacked against it being successful.
For the election results, even in one state, to be overturned at this point, there would have to be smoking-gun-level evidence. That’s unlikely to materialize. And even if it did, one state isn’t enough to flip the election to a Trump win.
As for changing the final count in multiple states, it’s hard to imagine that level of fraud will be discovered (even if it did occur), and even less likely that any federal court will want to tell 75 million Biden voters that he didn’t win the election after all.
Trump’s team has every right to take their election complaints to the courts. It’s within our established process, just like the election. Until these fraud allegations work through the system, this fight is not done. But that doesn’t mean Trump has a good chance of winning it at this phase… It’s a long shot at best.
Here are some of the other stories we’re reading today…
Pfizer’s Covid-19 Vaccine Proves 90% Effective in Latest Trials Pfizer said it is on track to ask health regulators for permission to sell the shot before the end of November.
Here’s what a Biden presidency spells for stocks, bonds and commodities Here’s a guide to how stocks, bonds, and other assets will perform under a Biden presidency…
Alex Trebek, Longtime Host of ‘Jeopardy!,’ Dies at 80 A good host, he once said, could set his ego aside and let contestants be all they could be. But he let them know when he thought they missed easy answers.
Inside the airline industry’s meltdown Coronavirus has hit few sectors harder than air travel, wiping out tens of thousands of jobs and uncountable billions in revenue. While most fleets were grounded, the industry was forced to reimagine its future…
Read our latest issues of American Consequences by clicking here.
Love us? Hate us? Let us know how we’re doing at [email protected].
Regards,
Buck Sexton
Executive Editor, American Consequences
With P.J. O’Rourke
November 10, 2020
