They all look fishy. But yeah- this one has a lot that looks fishy. It was already looking fishy before it started with political maneuvering about postal ballots and the USPS, with Republican parties in states like California putting up their own ballot collection boxes. Processing centers being temporarily shut down due to leaks before ballots could be counted, the USPS and the whole inability to sweep offices for missing ballots, a president declaring victory from 100 electoral votes behind and before counting was done, a president claiming he’d take an election to the Supreme Court (on what grounds?..?) before the votes were counted, a president attempting to order a stop to counting ballots submitted on time, in states that president was leading, while saying that counting must continue in states he trailed.... you’ve got guys being pepper sprayed on the way to the polls who claim they were peacefully marching while others claim they were breaking the law, it’s a shit show...
.. and that’s leaving out all the credible or less credible accusations or possibilities of foolery or fixing that one could point to. I matter who wins, a bunch of people are going to call it a perversion and a false victory. No matter how many court battles are fought and which are won or lost- it doesn’t matter. A whole bunch of people aren’t going to accept that the outcome is an honest representation of the will of America.
But who wins isn’t going to really matter so much as how they win. If Trump wins, liberals and Democrats and such will spend 4 years plus talking about how he wasn’t really chosen by America... which is exactly what has been said for 4 years- because he wasn’t. He lost the popular vote, but legally won the office- which many still question that and laws were passed in many states after he was elected to deal with electors who didn’t vote the way their constituents voted. But trump supporters should be used to hearing those claims since they already heard them last time he won.
If Biden is elected, Trump supporters will just make the same claims they mocked democrats and liberals for the last four years. Suddenly they’ll find themselves with a president they don’t think rightfully should be in office- and we will see how true their principals are about “he’s your president even if you don’t like it” when the guy we are talking about isn’t the one they supported. And either way bad things will still happen, mistakes will be made, and the world will keep spinning.
HOW the election goes will be more important. If a vote needs to be put to the house, or worse, a win comes from the courts, that’s going to pretty much cement the disenfranchisement of countless voters on either side as they see that their vote doesn’t matter. Our nation is divided and needs a uniter, a task Biden will find hard and Trump is incapable of- but any president who had to be installed by court or house vote will probably not be able to unite America. It will also be potentially critical if Trump is defeated, how he handles that defeat. It’s expected that either candidate will demand some recounts and such if they lose, but once the ultimate verdict is reached on who the next president will be and no more legal action can change that- we will have to see. Biden will most certainly step asides graciously, perhaps with a barb or backhanded well wishes.
Trump however, it is unknown if he would step asides and allow a smooth transfer of power, or what he will do. His last days as president he could set a time that could disrupt and ultimately hurt the American people- his actions in how he deals with deafest if he is ultimately beat may show his true colors. A man who cares about his country and its people will do everything he can to make sure that the transfer of power goes smoothly and the new administration gets off to the best start. We will see what he’s really about if he loses.
And of course, at the far end of extremism- if Trump loses he, or his follows could create violence, attempt coups, domestic terrorism and such. If Trump wins, the radical left, “Antifa” and left leaning non affiliated people could riot, protests could turn to riots, looting. Those possibilities are... possible. I think they are overall unlikely beyond perhaps small incidents of particular people. But it remains to be seen. Emotions are high and no manger what happens a lot of people won’t be happy, and a lot of people will likely never feel this election was “fair and honest” no matter what evidence comes up.
In the end, it’s very likely thy to some degree, both sides have people who on their own or as part of a larger conspiracy pulled some funny business. One side will likely have done a better job at it than the other. So I suppose that we will have a crooked leader either way, we can hope that we get the crooked one that is more competent.
It certainly seems a tad suspicious. But still plausible. And that’s sort of the thing right- how do we separate the odd but legitimate from the cheating? And- does the cheating really matter in the grand sense of it doesn’t change the outcome? Alleged possible cheating like the pipe in Georgia would supposedly serve the Trump camp, and alleged cheating like in Nevada would serve Biden supposedly- but is whatever they could do enough to change the state? And a bigger question: does it matter? 2016 wasn’t won on popular votes. It was electoral votes. That’s who decides the president.
Cheating the popular vote really doesn’t have a lot to do with the presidential election directly- it’s more to do with the lower elections like who controls the halls of representatives. In 2016 America said it wanted Hillary Clinton as president. There wasn’t a huge controversy on the vote counts (there is always SOME) but it didn’t matter- because America doesn’t decide. So here we are in 2020, so what if we recount and Trump wins the popular vote? If Biden still wins on electoral votes he’s president. The republicans couldn’t call that stealing an election any more than Trump “stole it” in 2016. So what do we do if we decide that becoming president after losing the popular vote is stealing the election?
A pipe magically burst in the room where they were keeping the ballots in Georgia.