Why Did it Have to be Voter Fraud?
By: Joscelyn Kate
Tags: Inequality, Equality, Trump, Election 2020, Politics

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Why Did it Have to be Voter Fraud?

I continually pose this question to Trump supporters who are claiming fraud and election misconduct. Nobody is willing to answer though... Why couldn’t Biden have just won?

The responses vary from, “Come on, do you really think he didn’t cheat?” to “Listen, I believe they cheated, you don’t and you’re not going to convince me”, or sometimes inquiring as to how I cannot possibly believe the signed, sworn affidavits of the poll watchers.

But in all seriousness, why is it implausible that people were sick of Trump?

No Senate Action

Since Trump’s nomination to the Republican party, people have been divided on whether they love or hate him. Of course, there are those who block their eyes and ears and vote for him based on some unfounded claim of preferring republican policies or aligning ideologies. But Republicans haven’t passed meaningful legislation in at least two years.

“Just as a particular, I think in the two years I’ve been in the Senate, we haven’t had a single vote on a matter related to health care, immigration, tax policy, climate change, the list goes on.”

Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican from Utah has openly admitted that the senate majority holds back on major issues based on whether that issue is unpopular in one of their senator’s states. The clear position of the Republican party is not to benefit the American people, not to implement the will of the people, not to work for the people, but to protect their position as rule-makers. “Just as a particular, I think in the two years I’ve been in the Senate, we haven’t had a single vote on a matter related to health care, immigration, tax policy, climate change, the list goes on,” said Romney of the senates voting record.

If senate republicans continually fail to vote on meaningful legislation and do not even have a specific agenda, why is it so unlikely that more people went with the party who brings bills to the floor and published a 2020 platform?

He Lost the Popular Vote—Twice

Trump lost the popular vote in 2016. He, of course, mentioned fraud at that time as well because apparently losing the popular vote, despite winning enough electoral votes to claim the office, required an explanation in Trump’s eyes.

Fortunately, there were not too many people taking his claims seriously so the rhetoric eventually fizzled out. It is curious though that it was such a concern of his but there were no proactive measures taken to ensure election security. Trump previously claimed fraud and did nothing about it. In fact, House Democrats presented multiple bills—that would ensure election security, particularly at a state level—which Senate Republicans refused to vote on.

Now, instead of having protected the election Trump was certain would be disrupted, he waited for alleged fraud to happen so he could scream, “I told you so!”? If the fraud was real in 2016, I cannot understand for the life of me how it was not top of mind for someone so obsessed with not only winning but “winning big”? Trump again lost the popular in 2020, by a much wider margin than 2016. So, we’re back to talking about fraudulent votes.

But I have to ask why cheating—why is it implausible that most of the country just doesn’t like Trump?

Silent (for a reason) Majority

Trump voters love to claim their place as the “silent majority” a term first coined by Nixon, need I say more.

There is a belief amongst the Trump-supporter circles that there are more people who support Trump than admit to it.

Why would that be? Why would someone support a politician in secrecy?

The typical response to this question is, “because we’re immediately ‘labeled’ racist, xenophobic, or hateful when you have no idea why we voted for him.” People do have a visceral reaction to Trump supporters, it’s true. There are so many arguments surrounding whether or not it makes sense to call someone racist for supporting Trump, but let’s put that argument aside for a minute. People do call supporters hateful and there are arguments to be made as to how or why supporting someone like Trump says something about their character.

Maybe people got sick of supporting someone they didn’t feel good about defending?

I know the polls were wrong, but they were with a margin of error. There were many political analysts who correctly predicted Trump’s 2016 victory. That’s because there was no silent majority, there were polls and analysts. They have a margin of error for a reason. Sometimes they’re right and sometimes they’re wrong.

Why is it so implausible that people were sick of defending an unlikable and by many accounts immoral man of little integrity and character?

Daily Turmoil

Whether you’re a Trump supporter or not, you can acknowledge that the president keeps the media and everyone following it in a constant tailspin. One story after the next, chaos upon chaos. He is always doing something controversial, his cronies are always in the news, he’s always breaking precedent… Which is a little ironic for a party based on the principle of preserving precedent. Nonetheless, Trump was a breaker-of-norms for Washington. One of the reasons he drew such widespread support—he was an outsider.

But Trump’s constant need to be in the spotlight becomes tiresome. Oftentimes it’s believed to be his strategy, distract and destroy. Even his supporters will say “I wish he’d stay off Twitter.” or something similar.

There were no largely vocal groups of Obama or W supporters that wished their candidate would stay out of the news or off social media—because their presence wasn’t exhausting. Of course, W had his own flaws—we all remember ‘misunderestimate’ and ‘embetterment’ *giggles*, but really, really, small potatoes when compared to Trump’s verbal political misfirings.

Why is it so implausible that supporters of the party of preserving precedent got sick of the norm-breaking and the idiocy and the daily chaos?

No Allegations of Fraud

Most importantly, absolutely most importantly, if there was fraud, and Biden didn’t just win, why aren’t Trump’s lawyers alleging fraud in court?

There have been zero suits filed alleging fraud and multiple instances of judges asking plaintiffs if fraud is being alleged—to which the answer has been no.

“No, your honor. And it doesn’t claim fraud,”

In Giuliani’s first court case in over 28 years, he was asked by Judge Brann to clarify charges being presented—since his oral arguments included allegations not cited in filings. Giuliani’s response, “No, your honor. And it doesn’t claim fraud.”

There is not one lawsuit with sufficient evidence to demonstrate widespread fraud. If you review each of the legal filings by Trump’s team, it appears his lawyers are claiming states violated their constitutions by either allowing mail-in ballots or accepting mail-in ballots after a certain date.

None of the votes cast are illegal, these are legally registered voters, legally casting a ballot, in their state. Trump’s team is not even alleging that they are illegally cast ballots or unregistered/illegal voters. They are simply requesting that the votes be thrown out—legal votes—because the state legislature made a ruling on the voting process prior to the election—a ruling that could have been challenged prior to the election.

Trump wants to punish legally registered voters and void their legally cast ballots in a court of law because their state allowed a change to the voting process. This is not the fault of the voters and their voice should not be stymied. I am shocked that Republicans support the position that these voters should lose their voice.

Why is it so implausible that Biden won fairly and why isn’t the president’s Twitter feed matching up to his lawsuits?

The Character of Trump

Trump is not a likable character. His supporters can admit that. He knows it.

“[C]an I ask you to do me a favor, suburban women? Will you please like me? Please. Please. I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?”

Giving a rally speech, Trump made a plea to suburban women, sprinkled with bizarre mentions of low-income housing and ranch-style homes, “[C]an I ask you to do me a favor, suburban women? Will you please like me? Please. Please. I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?”

He’s been married three times, his friend-fallouts are often public (the Clintons, Michael Cohen, Julian Assange), and he frequently has those involved in a close relationship with him sign an NDA.

I don’t understand what it is about him that people are able to trust?

If the intelligence communities tell us there was Russian interference, why do people believe Trump instead? If the intelligence community tells us this election was secure, why do people believe Trump instead?

What credibility does Trump have that our intel communities are missing? Why is he considered credible at all? How has he gained the trust of so many Americans? Especially when he’s alleging a massive election conspiracy, a major constitutional crisis, and he’s using Rudy Giuliani to fight the case—why can’t he find constitutional lawyers to defend his claims?

Why do you believe him when he says Biden cheated?

Why couldn’t Biden have just won?