Enlight21

Author: Editorial Board | Category: Politics National | Date: 12-03-2020

Even though Joe Biden is the clear winner of the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump refuses to concede and continues to insist that he “won by a lot.”

Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud flies in the face of what his own cybersecurity chief, Chris Krebs, has said—that the 2020 election was the most secure in history.  Even William Barr, Trump’s own attorney general, who has almost always done Trump’s bidding, stated that there was no widespread election fraud.

Despite not having any proof of election fraud, Trump’s campaign has filed lawsuit after lawsuit in all the swing states, alleging election fraud. Because of the lack of evidence, virtually every single lawsuit has been dismissed--unlike what politicians and their henchmen can say at press conferences and rallies, lawsuits are not taken seriously unless they are based on more than just unsubstantiated assertions.  

At press conferences, Trump’s lawyers have spun wild tales of conspiracies involving Hugo Chavez, the deceased Venezuelan dictator, sabotage by foreign nations, and  rigged ballot machines—all without a shred of evidence.

Inside the courtroom—in the actual filings in which documented evidence is an important factor and unsubstantiated wild allegations can lead to censure or even disbarment—Trump’s lawyers were unable to present any solid evidence of fraud beyond complaining about Republican poll watchers not having a clear view of the ballot counting, or ballots that shouldn’t be counted becaise of minor irregularities.

More recently, the Trump campaign has changed their legal strategy and has been asking judges to throw out hundreds of thousands of ballots in democratic counties in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Wisconsin and Michigan just because they were mail-in ballots ( despite the fact that mail-in ballots are absolutely legal and have already been used in many states for previous elections).  

Needless to say, judge after judge has rejected these ridiculous and baseless claims. Even judges who are conservative Republicans and ones appointed by Trump have reacted very negatively to these attempts to overturn the will of voters. 

Judge Stephanos Bibas, a Trump appointee and a judge of the 3rd District Court of Appeals in Pennsylvania. echoed what other judges have said when he concluded that Trump officials had not provided any proof of election fraud.

Writing for the 3-judge panel, Judge Bibas stated  that “the campaign’s claims have no merit.”  “Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here...”

Beyond baseless lawsuits, another strategy that the Trump campaign is pursuing is attempting to convince Republican-controlled state legislatures to overturn the election results in their states and just declare Donald Trump the winner even though the majority of voters in their states voted for Joe Biden.  

This would, of course, be an outright attack on our democracy, and could lead to a Civil War, as many Americans are not going to stand by and watch a dictator take over their country.

Let’s hope this worst-case scenario will not come to pass, and that Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th president on January 20, 2021.

Until inauguration day, though, many Americans will be holding their collective breaths.

Until he is gone, there is always a chance that Donald Trump--a person who does not believe in the rule of law, and does not believe that the law applies to him--will destroy our democracy in his maniacal quest to remain in power.

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