One of the basic tests of fairness asks the question, “Would you accept the same offer or conditions if our roles were reversed?” So, imagine if Joe Biden experienced the same election margins as President Trump, would he and his party respond differently? Absolutely not! And each of us know this beyond any doubt.
There are other things that we all know are untrue but keep getting repeated by the mainstream media in the misguided attempt to convince the American people that a lie is truth. Things like, the media determines the winner in an election. Concession speeches are important. The popular vote decides the presidency. Congratulatory messages from the pope or leaders of other countries legitimizes a candidate’s claim of victory. The media knows better but continues to perpetuate these messages to support their preferred candidate. Adding to this, the media has completely censored and refused to cover any news that is critical of their candidate.
And the biggest whopper of all time, “election fraud doesn’t exist.”
This whopper was told repeatedly despite a Texas mayoral candidate being charged with 109 felonies for fraudulently requesting and obtaining mail-in ballots for nursing home residents. A Texas woman was charged with 134 counts of a similar offense.
Counting ballots has its problems too. In Michigan, a Republican candidate was told he lost his bid for reelection by 104 votes but he actually won by 1127 votes. The error was thankfully caught within 24 hours. But the media downplays any claim of fraud as just totally unfounded. No matter how often the media lies, the truth remains.
I’m not saying that our election system is irreparably flawed but accidents or mistakes happen and there are cases of outright fraud, like the ballot fraud that caused a redo of the 2018 North Carolina 9th Congressional District race involving a person working for the Mark Harris campaign. Yes, fraud happens on behalf of Republican candidates too. That’s the way truth works, it’s not a function of party but reality.
So, President Trump has every legal right to pursue his legal challenges regarding the 2020 election. I’m not confident that his challenges will prevail in court but that’s the right place to settle those claims.
According to Ballotpedia, in 2020, the Electoral College is scheduled to vote on Dec. 14. Congress will then convene on Jan. 6, 2021 to count the electoral votes and formally declare the winner. When a winner is declared on Jan. 6th, President Trump is either reelected to a second term or Joe Biden becomes the president-elect. Every American should then accept that outcome as final.
Until then, I’m ignoring the mainstream media telling me what I know isn’t true in favor of what our Constitution and election laws require. This is exactly what Joe Biden would expect if the shoe were on the other foot. Everyone should take a deep breath and let the election process play out as the constitution requires. Jan. 6, 2021 will be here soon enough.
Ed O’Neal is a Richmond County native, retired military officer, observer and writer about life and politics. He does not accept direction or support from any political party and his views are his alone.
