In 2016 Donald Trump won the presidency by beating Hillary Clinton with 306 electoral votes, even though he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million.
Regardless, Trump declared it an electoral vote “landslide.” Four years later, it looks like President-elect Joe Biden will win with the same 306 electoral votes, and take the popular vote by well over 5 million.
Using Trump’s logic, Biden won by a bigger landslide. Then why are Trump and his supporters calling out election fraud and contesting the election?
The most plausible reason is Donald Trump refuses to admit he is a loser. He’s never once admitted he was wrong or apologized for unseemly behavior during his presidency.
Trump admitting he was fired, something he believes only happens to someone else if you watched any of the 14 seasons he hosted of the reality TV show The Apprentice, is something with which his narcissistic personality can’t reckon.
Then there’s the lifestyle he’s grown accustomed to living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Air Force One, private helicopters, a security detail, and a full staff of sycophants fawning at his every suggestion (no matter how ridiculous).
As a private citizen, these cushy perks would be gone.
Financially Trump is in trouble. He has $900 million in loans coming due in the next four years, in a COVID depressed commercial real estate market.
There isn’t a single bank who will work with him and without the ability to refinance debt the President will be forced to unload his properties in a fire sale to raise cash. Trump also faces a nine-figure payment to the IRS when the audit is over. And he’s embroiled in 3,500 lawsuits that have varying degrees of unknown financial liability.
What kind of person is involved in that many lawsuits? When Donald Trump leaves the Oval Office, he faces, at best, future financial difficulty; at worst, personal bankruptcy.
When Hillary Clinton lost the Electoral College by the same number of electoral votes, she graciously conceded within 24 hours of election night.
But there’s nothing gracious about DJT. Instead, he’s throwing the federal government into turmoil, with baseless claims of election fraud and specious lawsuits, all of which are getting thrown out by lower courts.
There is little doubt that Trump will lose this battle. The New York Times, in a Nov. 11 front-page article, highlights several secretaries of state and attorneys general, in bipartisan union, all stating Trump’s claims of election fraud are unfounded.
So, why are most high-ranking Republican officials sticking by Trump, echoing election night claims of winning the election?
Privately, they are whispering to their Democratic peers, saying they are afraid to speak out against Trump for fear of political retribution. Others are fighting the fight with the hopes of currying favor with Trump’s base because they too dream of Presidential glory. It’s a horrifically divisive display of selfish cowardice.
Trump also points to faulty polling as a way to show fraud and voter suppression. The polls had him losing the popular vote by about 8 percent not the 3.5% currently tallied. And certain states had an even larger polling margin of error.
However, this argument is ridiculous, because if you thought your candidate had a comfortable lead, you wouldn’t be as compelled to vote as if your candidate was behind and every vote counted.
Our disingenuous president went so far as to tell his voters to only vote in person and not mail-in absentee ballots, and then feigned surprise when a vast majority of the absentee ballots went to Biden.
By not losing graciously, Trump is further dividing the country, causing turmoil and uncertainty in America. He’s even made the recent unprecedented move of replacing Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other top jobs in the Pentagon with loyalists.
Not only does this leave America vulnerable to its enemies, there are some who feel he may use the military to stage some sort of coup.
President Trump’s election behavior is a malignant cancer to America.
Furthermore, the people voted him out. Currently, there is no scenario on the horizon where the president provides a path to an easy and peaceful transition of power to President-elect Joe Biden.
Now he’s is trying to steal the election with some backhanded scheme to get Republican legislators, state officials or judges, to switch state certifications from Biden electors to Trump.
Over the next 10 weeks until Biden’s inauguration, our Republic is in danger.