The US Presidential Election only happens once every four years and, thanks to the media, is widely regarded as an intense, nail-biting race between the best possible candidates for the big man´s seat at the Oval Office. This time around, president Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden battled for that seat, and the older baby-boomer won out. Not only did Biden win out the Electoral College with 306 votes as compared to Trump´s 232 votes, but he also won out the popular vote by a pretty large margin of a little under 6 million votes. Now, I’m no advocate for the Electoral College myself; it’s the reason Trump got voted into office in the first place four years ago, but it is clear that our electoral system did its job and that Biden won this election fair and square.

So, let me ask a simple question to you all. What does the former president do with the president-elect? Well, if we look back throughout our country’s history for some help, they accept that this person will be the next president of the United States and act accordingly. Maybe give a congratulatory speech or write a letter to the president-elect. Maybe give a tour through the White House for the president-elect. Maybe give some briefings to the president-elect or whatever rich and powerful people do behind closed doors. Consulting on the past, these are expected at the very least, no matter how bitter the former president is to lose his big man seat for some other schmuck. Now, it seems Donald Trump isn’t just bitter about his failed re-election campaign, he is in the first stage of grief: Denial. This poses a number of questions, one of them being, ¨How can a president refuse the results of an election, thus denying a peaceful transferal of power?¨

That’s an easy one, just say it’s all a fraud. And, I’ve gotta hand it to #45, he’s been lining this one up for months now. All the way back in June, Trump tweeted, ¨RIGGED 2020 ELECTION: MILLIONS OF MAIL-IN BALLOTS WILL BE PRINTED BY FOREIGN COUNTRIES, AND OTHERS. IT WILL BE THE SCANDAL OF OUR TIMES!¨ Thank you, Mr. President, for that baseless claim seemingly coming from out of nowhere and subsequently going nowhere as well. With this, I just want to establish that Trump, months ago, preemptively strung together a narrative that the election would be rigged (only if Biden were to win, of course). His supporters at the time, it seemed, didn’t really buy it, but with the gift of hindsight, it turns out they must’ve studied his words on note cards religiously.

No matter where I turn, every disappointed Trump supporter post-election wants to go on and on about how the election was rigged and how it isn’t fair and how there is some grand scheme going on underneath it all. Not only is this spitting in the face of democracy and the, albeit flawed, electoral system, it is preventing a peaceful transferal of power from a Trump administration to a Biden administration that has potential for disastrous consequences. The White House, even after the election was called, is now moving forward with its budget proposals for next year, hiring new people for a second Trump term, and even firing workers at the Pentagon and replacing them with Yes-men. They are actively going against the will of the people at all costs to remain in power, it is like they are closing their eyes and screaming ¨TWELVE MORE YEARS, TWELVE MORE YEARS!!!¨ over and over to avoid the reality that they lost. It’s humiliating, and it sets a precedent for all future leaders of the free world that acting like a child and denying the results of an election and refusing to comply is acceptable behavior.

Besides the example that Trump is setting, there is the problem of the claims themselves. Republicans love to make the claim right now that there is widespread voter fraud in favor of Joe Biden and that is why he won. Here’s the reality of the situation. Red Mirage: on election night, with majority Republicans voting in person, the race looks to be in favor of the Republican candidate. Blue Shift: as Democrats are more likely than Republicans to vote by mail, the mail-in ballots that are counted days after the election in favor of the Democratic candidate come in and flip the election. On the outside, it does look like the Democrats weaseled their grubby little fingers somewhere during the process to artificially inflate votes for their party, but it is simply a party preference in voting. And with COVID-19, tons of people decided to vote by mail this time around than in other elections. To entirely discredit all those votes would be to shut down the voice of the American people.

I hate to abruptly end this, as it has been fun, but I simply cannot go over all the information required to prove this voter ¨fraud¨ allegation wrong. I would highly suggest that, if you are at all interested in this subject, watch Late Night with Seth Myers on Youtube. He’s a very charismatic guy and his series ¨A Closer Look¨ takes a closer look (who would’ve thought) at Republican claims and backs up his own claims with supporting evidence. He is harsh on #45, but if you can get past all the poor impressions, there is a lot of informative substance there. Regardless, thank you for reading.