By Jose Orozco
This presidential election has taken longer than expected this year. President Trump has publicly declared that he has won and that this election is rigged. And there has been an evident division of the American people as the vote percentage is almost half for both candidates, with Biden having the slight advantage.
This is somewhat concerning when considering Trump’s previous record. It is surprising that this election has been so close in the voting percentage. But then again, there is the concern over Biden who has been well known to be a career liar.
Beginning with Trump, he made a call to Ukraine demanding information on Biden, in exchange for weapons to aid them in case of an invasion of Russia. Not to mention, there was also the removal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement.
On Nov. 3, as posted on Twitter by C-Span, Trump has publicly declared that this election is “a fraud on the American public” and “an embarrassment to our country.”
“We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election. Our goal now is to ensure the integrity for the good of this nation.”
The outrageous claim being made here is that ballots should stop being counted in states which he was previously winning. Of course, the Trump Administration does not consider the impact COVID-19 has had on the counting of ballots.
Due to the pandemic, many people felt unsafe to vote in person, thus a majority of the ballots were mailed in.
However, Trump is still accusing many of these same voters of cheating.
Counting ballots has to occur in a longer time frame to account for these mailed ballots, but that does not mean that they are not valid. They were postmarked by the voting deadline––election day––and have yet to arrive at their destination.
As BBC reports, “Different states stop voting at different times.”
Usually, ballots are still being counted by election night, and there are enough votes to pick a winner. This time, however, voting is different with more early voters voting by post rather than in person.
“Postal votes typically take longer to count as they have to go through more steps to be verified, such as a signature and address check.”
BBC also explains that Ellen Weintraub, the Federal Election Commission head, states: “There’s simply no basis for the conspiracy theory that voting by mail causes fraud.”
And it has been projected that there have been twice as many early voters this year as compared to the 2016 election. This, then, looks like a desperation tactic from Trump since a loss seems inevitable, and I believe taking this to the Supreme Court will not hold much water.
The evidence is clear, Trump should prepare himself to accept defeat.
The election began on Nov. 3, and with only a few days after, a winner is still to be declared. The 2020 election results currently have 253 electoral votes in favor of Biden and 214 electoral votes in favor of Trump. The vote percentages are 50.5 percent and 47.8 percent respectively, with Biden having a slight lead.
The remaining states to be counted include Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina and Alaska. The projected winners have Biden winning the first four of the total five states. Biden’s current lead in electoral votes suggests that he will be our new president.
This will entail several beneficial changes along with some drawbacks. For one, under Biden, the U.S. will definitely rejoin the Paris Agreement. Additionally, ties with previous U.S. allies will be stitched back together when they were severed by Trump’s negotiations with authoritarian countries.
We could also expect Biden to attempt to pack the court.
The New York Times reports that “after Justice Ginsburg’s death, [Biden] went silent on the issue [of court-packing], declining to say if his position had changed.” This means that we can expect an attempt from the Biden Administration to expand the number of Democratic Justices in the Supreme Court.
More Democratic Justices will complicate future decisions, which may further cause negative results. But the 6-3 conservative majority made by questionable Republican tactics to “steal” seats can surely be represented as a far more significant problem.
Overall, it seems clear that more people are willing to welcome Biden with open arms. I, for one, do not see how he can make things much worse.
Yet, there is the possibility that we might get tax increases and even small businesses might be negatively affected by his policies. I am willing to take this hit in order to place a less scandalous candidate in the presidency.
I totally agree.
Thanks for reinstating my comment. I don’t understand why it was ever removed in the first place.
I have some bad news for you Mr. Orozco, Presidents lie.
Trump has spent his entire political career lying about everything. His lies are estimated in the tens of thousands. He did this standing on the shoulders of the many liar Presidents who came before him. If you are now going to hold Biden to some high standard about lying you are certain to be disappointed.
The real standard was articulated by Attorney General John Mitchell, the only Attorney General in American history to go to prison, for among other things, perjury, when he told the press, “Watch what we do not what we say.”
A short history of Presidential lies in my lifetime:
Kennedy: “I have previously stated, and I repeat now, that the United States intends no military intervention in Cuba.”
Johnson: “We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.”
Nixon: “I am not a crook.”
Reagan: “We did not — repeat — we did not trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we.”
Bush 41:“Read my lips no new taxes.”
Clinton: “I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky.”
Bush 43: “Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised.”
Obama: “If Americans like their doctor, they will keep their doctor.”
Trump: “Coronavirus numbers are looking MUCH better, going down almost everywhere,” and cases are “coming way down.”
I agree Ron, presidents do lie. The examples you listed are a very fair assessment,
Since Trump’s lies were big news almost daily are we now to look the other way because a Democrat has just been elected? Excuse us if we don’t.
There are kind of three issues here embedded in one.
First, there are lies which are more obfuscation than lie.
Second, there are big lies – Pentagon paper exposed big lies. WMDs were a big lie upon which policies were based and justified. What came out from Snowden were big lies.
Third, what Trump did was extraordinarily different than either of these. He simply lied like he breathed. I know politicians get a rap for lying, but what Trump did every single time he spoke or tweeted was on another level.
You want fairness, I get it, but the reason why the media focused on Trump was that he was different than anyone who has ever held the office.
Oh, so it’s different now. We are supposed to look the other way when Biden or Harris lie.
Yup, it was “every single time” says David. Biden will only lie sometimes. You just proved my point.
Keith, I support you calling out every lie Biden speaks.
However, because of Trump’s incessant lying, I don’t think calling out Presidential lies will have the impact it has had in the past.
As John Mitchell pointed out it is more important to look at what they do not what they say.
To me, the difference between a man who has 2-3 women on the side with whom he regularly cheats on his wife with, and the man who goes to a bar every night, picks up a different woman, and takes them to a hotel to cheat on his wife. The man who only cheats on his wife with 2-3 regular women on the side is a much better man.
And as Joni Mitchell sang:
You like roses and kisses and pretty men to tell you
All those pretty lies pretty lies
When you gonna realize they’re only pretty lies
Only pretty lies just pretty lies
— Joni Mitchell, “The Last Time I Saw Richard” (Nixon?)