Trump Loses Arizona--Again - WSJ Editorial
Former President Trump claims Arizonas ballot audit found massive fraud, yet the new recount says he actually lost the state by 360 more votes than originally reported. He is now demanding an audit of the 2020 election in . . . Texas, which he won by nearly six points. When are Republicans going to quit playing this game?
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True to his nature, Mr. Trump is claiming vindication based on the audits analysis of voter files. As the biggest example, he says Arizonas results include 23,344 mail-in ballots, despite the person no longer living at that address. Phantom voters! No. Did he read the report? This figure comes from comparing voter records to a commercial database on change-of-address filings, but look at the caveats. Cyber Ninjas says errors are normal when using commercial data. Most of these voters barely moved: 15,035 stayed in Maricopa County, and another 1,718 went somewhere else in Arizona. Only 40% were Democrats and 33% Republicans. The audit also admits there are ways that a voter could receive their ballot which in some cases would not violate the law. College students move often, but they could easily pick up ballots that were inadvertently sent home or to old roommates. What about people serving in the military, taking extended vacations, or working remotely? Address changes were probably noisier than usual last year, given how the pandemic scrambled life. The report offers no evidence that any of these people voted illegally.
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The audit documents exceed 100 pages, and it will take time for local authorities to comb through all the claims. Elections are human endeavors, so itd hardly be surprising if an outside review found some goofs or ways to improve. But that isnt Mr. Trumps aim, as one official acknowledged Friday. I have already started to hear from people saying that, well, the audit failed, said Ken Bennett, the GOP state Senates liaison to Cyber Ninjas, because it didnt prove that the election was overturned or that there was a different result.
On Friday Mr. Trump was set to Defcon 1, saying the audit found incomprehensible Fraud at an Election Changing level, and demanding that Arizona immediately decertify their 2020 Presidential Election Results. Is anyone surprised? This is what Mr. Trump does, regardless of the facts. Remember in 2016, when he said the results of the Iowa Caucus should be nullified based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz ?
The GOP should quit chasing him down rabbit holes. Mr. Trump lost last year by 74 electoral votes, so even flipping Arizona would have left him two states short. He cant admit to his fans that he lost, since it would undermine his rally attendance, fundraising and teasers about 2024. Perhaps Mr. Trump cant even admit to himself that he lost, and in his final days hell be raging on the heath about ballot dumps.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-loses-arizona-again-maricopa-county-recount-2020-election-11632604370 (subscription)
MatthewG.
(362 posts)Broadly, the WSJ is the sanest national conservative news outfit. Theyve shown some willingness to call Trump on his near-endless sleaze.
CTyankee
(63,769 posts)But I think the Wash Post and the NYT also had simiilar situations.
Response to question everything (Original post)
MatthewG. This message was self-deleted by its author.
lees1975
(3,718 posts)who predicted his inability to accept an election loss because it makes him a "loser" and he is incapable of comprehending the fact that he is not perfect. And she predicted he would do whatever it took, no matter how immoral, unethical or wrong it was, to get what he wants.
The GOP has absolutely nothing to offer voters and if they think this dog and pony show with Trump, complete with rallies that never draw anywhere near the number of people he claims they do, is their only way to win elections, then that's a demonstration of gross incompetence and lack of character and conviction of its candidates.