A recent poll shows that 68% of Republicans believe Trump's Big Lie that he won the 2020 election. The same poll shows that 30% of Republicans believe that violence might be necessary 'to save our country'.
As bad as that sounds, I can empathize. If I believed that my candidate lost the presidency despite getting more votes, I would have a difficult time making peace with it, too.
Fortunately, there's no reason for these Republicans to be upset, because the official election results are actually correct; there was no fraud. But since I don't expect Trump's fans to take my word for it ---
The Problem
The problem isn't just that Trump is lying to his base; there are a lot of people making baseless allegations of fraud. This particular example is about the recent gubernatorial race in Virginia, and it came a few days before the election, but all Republican election-fraud claims are similar.
In recent days, Chase has pushed such claims without details or evidence.
“I know how Democrats are cheating, and that information has been given to the Youngkin campaign,” she said in a recent Newsmax interview cited by Herring.
During another appearance on the channel flagged by The Washington Post, Chase said an unnamed man had showed her “exactly how they’re stealing elections in Virginia.”
“They’re moving, in cyberland, they are switching inactive voters to active voters, all in the same week, it’s undetectable. I know what they’re doing, John, and now the Youngkin campaign has all that information and they’re not going to get by on us this year, I’m telling you.”
In what is no doubt a coordinated campaign, random yahoos like Chase pop up every week or two, and the claims are always the same: Supposedly Democrats are stealing elections, yet the accuser consistently fails to provide any evidence. "Unnamed man", "it's undetectable", a report is forthcoming, the evidence has been given to the Republican candidate but no one else, etc. etc. etc. A similar shyster peppered his claims with statements like "We can't prove it yet", and "We need to keep their identities secret".
And tellingly --- "said they needed donations to pay for the venue and to buy software programs". When it's not a rallying cry for insurrection, it's a scam.
And we know it's a scam, because the 2020 presidential election has probably been the most-scrutinized election in American history.
Official Investigations and Audits
In addition to audits in states that weren't really battlegrounds, like Vermont, Virginia and *two* audits in Michigan, there have also been audits in the battleground states of Wisconsin, Georgia and Arizona.In Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported:
By law, Georgia was required to conduct a Risk Limiting Audit of a statewide race following the November elections. Understanding the importance of clear and reliable results for such an important contest, Secretary Raffensperger selected the presidential race in Georgia for the audit. Meeting the confidence threshold required by law for the audit meant conducting a full manual tally of every ballot cast in Georgia.
The Risk Limiting Audit reaffirmed the outcome of the presidential race in Georgia as originally reported, with Joe Biden leading President Donald Trump in the state.
(UPDATE: On 5/9/2022, hyper-right-wing 'news' organization OAN was forced to admit that there was NO evidence of fraud in Georgia --- because they got sued and couldn't prove their claims in court!)
In Wisconsin,
The audit didn't offer any evidence that the election won by President Joe Biden was “stolen” from Donald Trump, as Trump and some fellow conservatives have falsely claimed. Biden’s roughly 21,000-vote win over Trump in Wisconsin has withstood recounts and multiple court rulings.
And famously (and deliciously) --- the amateurish 'audit' run by Trump partisans in Maricopa County, Arizona, apparently determined that Joe Biden's margin of victory was actually *larger* than first reported:
The much-delayed report from Cyber Ninjas, a Florida-based firm whose owner had spread pro-Trump conspiracies, had been repeatedly hyped up by Trump himself.
But the draft “confirms the county’s canvass of the 2020 General Election was accurate and the candidates certified as the winners did, in fact, win,” Maricopa County’s official account tweeted Thursday night.
(UPDATE: As of 4/7/2022, another Arizona audit shows 'no evidence' of fraud that affected the election result).
So --- *at a minimum* --- we know that even if there were fraud in other states Trump was contesting (Nevada, Pennsylvania), it wouldn't have changed the fact that Biden won the election. And the Arizona audit, in particular, was run by a group of people who have no reason to report that Biden won, unless that's what really happened.
Speaking of audits carried out by Trump-lovers --- an internal investigation *performed by the Trump campaign* found that at least one of Trump's central fraud claims was false:
Less than two weeks after the 2020 presidential election, the Trump campaign asked its researchers to look into conspiracy theories about rigged electronic voting machines. The researchers soon returned with an answer: a 14-page memo that refuted various claims, including that Dominion Voting Systems worked with election software maker Smartmatic and Venezuela to defeat President Donald Trump, according to records that emerged in a lawsuit this week.
Nonetheless, days after that memo was circulated, pro-Trump lawyers Rudolph W. Giuliani and Sidney Powell held a news conference in Washington to publicize the same conspiracy theory about Dominion, Smartmatic and Venezuela.
The fact that Trump himself seems to be the only person on his campaign who actually believes that he won (if he does) should allay any concerns about fraud which his supporters might have.
Update (3/5/2022): The Associated Press has conducted its own investigation of the 25.5 million ballots cast in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, and found at most 475 questionable ballots:
The cases could not throw the outcome into question even if all the potentially fraudulent votes were for Biden, which they were not, and even if those ballots were actually counted, which in most cases they were not.
Court Cases
Of course, if anyone on the Trump campaign *did* find evidence of fraud, they could pursue a legal remedy in court. And in fact, the Trump campaign did this --- more than 50 times (as we'll see later, some sources say there have been more than 70 court cases).
They didn't win any of them. And Trump's lead attorneys, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, are on the road to being disbarred for ethics violations related to these fraudulent lawsuits. And they should be. CNN recently posted video of Powell and Giuliani admitting that they had no idea whether the fraud allegations were true.
I realize that hard-core Trump supporters will claim that this is some kind of 'deep state' conspiracy against Trump --- and if the conspiracy runs to 50, 60 or 70 judges, that's *REALLY* deep --- but that's clearly just wishful thinking. We may not know whether any individual judge is pro- or anti-Trump, but we know for sure that the Supreme Court is solidly Republican. After all, Trump himself picked one-third of the Supreme Court judges, to add to the three Republicans already on the court.
And --- the Supreme Court wouldn't even hear the Trump campaign's case. Considering the seriousness of an alleged stolen election, it's hard to believe they would refuse to take the case if they thought there was even a shred of validity to Trump's claims.
So --- that should pretty much put the whole matter to bed.
Republican Realists
But in case it doesn't, I'll conclude by pointing to a long list of Republicans who acknowledge that Biden won the election. And again, I know hard-core Trumpists will call some of them RINOs --- but could it really be possible that ALL of them are?
To keep it real, I'm not even including statements from any of the former Trump administration officials who endorsed Biden.
Donald Trump himself seemed to acknowledge that Biden won the election fairly, when he issued a press release on January 30, 2022, stating that Mike Pence "could have overturned the Election". If Trump actually believed he had won, he wouldn't need Pence to "overturn" anything.
One could argue that this is just a matter of semantics, which might be true if this was a statement Trump made off the cuff at one of his rallies. But presumably the language of this press release was reviewed and vetted.
Ronna McDaniel, current chair of the RNC: "Painfully, Joe Biden won the election and it's very painful to watch. He's the President. We know that."
Kevin McCarthy, leader of the House GOP caucus: "Let's be clear, Joe Biden will be sworn in as president of the United States in one week because he won the election"
Bill Barr, Trump's Attorney General: "My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time. If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bullshit."
Brad Raffensperger, Georgia Secretary of State: "He did most of the talking. We did most of the listening but I did want to make my points that the data that [Trump] has is just plain wrong."
Barbara Cegavske, Nevada Secretary of State: Cegavske’s office wrote that it is pursuing several “isolated” cases of voter fraud, but has not seen evidence of any large-scale fraud that would meaningfully affect Trump’s 33,596-vote loss in the state.
Kellyanne Conway, Trump adviser: “If you look at the vote totals in the Electoral College tally, it looks like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will prevail,” Conway said in an interview with The 19th. “I assume the electors will certify that and it will be official. We, as a nation, will move forward, because we always do."
Dan Coates, President Trump’s former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats is among a group of prominent Republicans now acknowledging Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election, referring to him as the president-elect and calling on the administration to begin the transition process.
John Bolton, Trump's National Security Adviser: "I think it's very important for leaders of the Republican Party to explain to our voters—who are not as stupid as the Democrats think—that in fact Trump has lost the election and that his claims of election fraud are baseless."
George W. Bush, 43rd President: "The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear."
Paul Ryan, Former House Speaker: “It was not rigged. It was not stolen," Ryan told WISN 12 in a rare interview on Monday. "Donald Trump lost the election. Joe Biden won the election. It's really clear."
Condoleezza Rice, Former Secretary of State
Asa Hutchinson, Governor of Arkansas: "Joe Biden is our president-elect and he will be confirmed in that capacity."
Mike DeWine, Governor of Ohio: “We need to consider the former vice president the president-elect. Joe Biden is the president-elect."
Spencer Cox, Governor of Utah
Chris Sununu, Governor of New Hampshire: "I don’t have the luxury of just sitting at home on social media and whining because my guy didn’t win — and my guy didn’t win. I supported President Trump and [Democrats] spent millions of dollars reminding people that I was a Trump supporter. But the election is going to be called for Joe Biden."
Charlie Baker, Governor of Massachusetts: "I made very clear that I felt the election process that took place in November was fair, and that President Joe Biden won the election."
Phil Scott, Governor of Vermont: "The fact is the results of this election have been validated by Republican governors, conservative judges and non-partisan election officials across the country. There is no doubt that the President’s delusion, fabrication, self-interest, and ego have led us – step by step – to this very low, and very dangerous, moment in American history."
Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland: "Look, this election is over and I know that the President had every opportunity to provide some kind of evidence of widespread voter fraud. We haven't seen any. All the court cases are done, the Supreme Court refused to hear the case because there wasn't any factual evidence, and now the states all across America -- the Electoral College has voted."
Fred Upton, MI-06
Adam Kinzinger, IL-16
Tom Reed, NY-23
Don Young, AK-AL
John Curtis, UT-03
Lisa Murkowski, AK-Sen; Bill Cassidy, LA-Sen; Susan Collins, ME-Sen; Don Bacon, NE-02; Ben Sasse, NE-Sen; Pat Toomey, PA-Sen; Shelley Moore Capito, WV-Sen; Liz Cheney, WY-AL
Mike Crapo, ID-Sen; Cathy McMorris Rodgers, WA-05; Dan Newhouse-WA-04
John Boozman, AR-Sen: "Not one of the lawsuits filed found evidence of widespread fraud or irregularities that would have changed the outcome of the election. Similarly, not a single state’s outcome changed as a result of requested recounts. Objecting to certified electoral votes submitted by the states will have no impact on the result of the election either."
Rick Scott, FL-Sen: Saying the issue had become a "kind of a loyalty oath for the Trump party," "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace asked Scott directly: "Did Joe Biden win this election fair and square?"
“Absolutely," Scott replied. "Joe Biden is the president. We went through the constitutional process. Joe Biden won the election."
Chuck Grassley, IA-Sen: "To date, 78 lawsuits have been filed alleging election irregularities in various states. They have had their day in court but none of them was successful in changing election results in any state. Politicians in Washington should not second guess the courts once they have ruled, and we cannot and should not consider allegations not formally presented to a court of law."
Jerry Moran, KS-Sen: U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran said Tuesday that he won't support an effort to block the certification of President-elect Joe Biden's victory later this week, saying the effort by some of his Republican colleagues "would risk undermining our democracy."
Mitch McConnell, KY-Sen: "Many millions of us had hoped the presidential election would yield a different result, but our system of government has processes to determine who will be sworn in on January the 20th. The Electoral College has spoken, so today I want to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden."
Roy Blunt, MO-Sen: “His lawyers presented the evidence they had to more than 90 judges – many of them Republican-appointed, including several nominated by President Trump – in more than 60 different cases. That process ended with each state certifying its election results in accordance with the Constitution and state law."
Deb Fischer, NE-Sen: " . . . the president’s legal team failed to make the case in court to any judge, including some appointed by President Trump, or to criminal investigators, that widespread voter fraud existed sufficient to overturn election results in any state. Notably, many of the arguments proffered by the legal team on television were not made in the courtroom, in part or at all. Unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud are not enough to discard the election results of states where I may not like the outcome."
Richard Burr, NC-Sen: "I supported President Trump’s legal right to contest the election results through the courts, but the courts have now unanimously and overwhelmingly rejected these suits. No evidence of voter fraud has emerged that would warrant overturning the 2020 election. The President bears responsibility for today’s events by promoting the unfounded conspiracy theories that have led to this point. It is past time to accept the will of American voters and to allow our nation to move forward."
Kevin Cramer, ND-Sen; John Hoeven, ND-Sen; Kelly Armstrong, ND-AL
Lindsey Graham, SC-Sen: Graham said no one has provided any evidence of wrongdoing and objecting the results is a “uniquely bad idea.”
“I prayed [Biden] would lose,” Graham said. “He won. He’s the legitimate President of the United States. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are lawfully elected and will become the president and vice president of the United States on Jan 20.”
Mike Rounds, SD-Sen: “My message is I know it’s hard. I know you truly wanted to win it, but please. 60 different court cases, the attorney general himself Bill Barr, members of the United States House, and members of the United States Senate have looked at, and we truly believe that the election, while there were abnormalities, would not have changed the outcome of the election. Joe Biden is the legitimate president-elect of the United States.” Rounds repeated his view that the election was "fair" on January 9.
Mitt Romney, UT-Sen: In addition to social media perpetuating the “big lie” that Trump is somehow still president and President Joe Biden stole the election, GOP officials, too, are contributing to that notion, the Utah Republican said.
“You have many of the Trump supporters in elected office, senators, congresspeople, governors, continuing to say the same thing, that the election was stolen,” Romney said.
But, he said, what they should tell people is that the Trump campaign “had a chance to take their message to the courts, the courts laughed them out of court. I’ve seen no evidence that suggests that there was widespread voter fraud.”
Romney reiterated his view on January 10, shortly after Mike Rounds did.
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