Maybe Joe Biden won the presidency fair and square. Maybe he won it through massive voter fraud. It would be really nice to know either way before January 20, 2021.
Only a Democratic hack, an idiot, or a journalist (but I repeat myself) could look at everything that’s happened and declare that there is “no evidence of widespread voter fraud.” It’s possible that the evidence is misleading. It’s possible that the fraud wasn’t “widespread” enough to tip the scales. But we owe it to the citizens of our country to take a hard look at everything that has been alleged before moving ahead.
For starters, recall that Joe Biden boasted that his campaign “has put together the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in history.” (Biden’s campaign refused to issue a comment to Reuters, whose fact-checkers took it onto themselves to claim—without evidence—that Biden actually meant the opposite of what he said.)
Maybe there is an innocent explanation for why Republican poll watchers were forbidden from watching the vote counting in Philadelphia. Maybe there is an innocent explanation for why poll workers blotted out the windows so no one could look inside in Michigan. Maybe there is an innocent explanation for why a local sheriff refused to enforce a court order to allow Republican observers to get close enough to look at what was happening.
But then again, maybe not. Remember that just a few months ago, an elections judge—not a poll worker, a judge—was indicted for stuffing fake ballots on behalf of candidates who paid him.
Maybe the postal workers who have stepped forward in Pennsylvania to say that they were ordered to backdate mail-in ballots that came in after the election so that they would be counted—in violation of state law—are lying. But then again, maybe not.
Maybe there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for why poll watchers in Wayne County, Michigan were allegedly kept in the dark, with blocked windows and padlocked doors, and for why “non-partisan” poll workers cheered when Republican observers were ejected. Maybe the extremely disturbing allegations presented in sworn affidavits are the product of dozens of individuals’ spontaneous desire to be prosecuted for perjury.
Then again, maybe not. It is, to say the least, interesting to watch journalists claim that there’s “no evidence” of widespread fraud. If fraud were occurring, it would be occurring precisely in places that have operated in secrecy.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but using their standards, how could American journalists possibly have alleged that Syrian dictator Bashar Assad didn’t truly get 99 percent of his people’s vote? Did anyone actually see evidence suggesting he didn’t?
Surely Syrian state media would have dismissed any allegations of irregularities or fraud just as harshly as CNN is doing now.
The United States takes pride in viewing itself as a beacon of democracy. But the international community long ago realized the massive inherent potential for fraud in mail-in voting. Of the 27 European Union countries, 63 percent have banned mail-in voting unless their citizens are living abroad, and another 22 percent won’t even allow their ex-pats to vote by mail. Yet somehow, American journalists tell our citizens that Republican concerns with vote-by-mail have no plausible or rational basis. They also claim that voter ID laws—also the international norm—are somehow “racist.” It’s important never to forget that journalists, as Obama advisor Ben Rhodes said, “literally know nothing.”
The very same people who let Hillary Clinton claim that the election was stolen, who let Democrats claim that Stacey Abrams really won the Georgia election, whose reporting led 67 percent of Democrats to believe that Russia hacked into our voting machines, are now telling you that there is “no evidence” of widespread voter fraud and that anyone who raises such questions is a conspiracy theorist.
There is, technically speaking, infinitely more evidence that Joe Biden benefited from voter fraud than there is proof that Russia “hacked our elections” four years ago.
Maybe there really are perfectly reasonable explanations for every allegation and irregularity. Maybe President Trump is crying wolf this time. But it’s worth looking at the scorecard and remembering that almost every time he’s cried wolf by accusing a major institution of serious corruption, there has actually been a wolf.
Anybody who actually cares about our democracy should demand that the courts and state legislators get to the bottom of what truly happened before certifying vote totals. No matter who they want to win, citizens should demand recounts, audits, and that every serious allegation sees its day in court before. If citizens of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada can’t muster the political will to safeguard our democracy by pressuring their legislatures to take a hard look at the evidence before certifying any results, then we no longer deserve to—and no longer will—live in a constitutional republic.