Facing Reality
By Patrick F. Cannon
It would appear that President Trump has failed to win a second term. Although the numbers have surely changed since then, on Wednesday, November 11, he had 4,924,464 fewer popular votes than President-elect Joseph Biden. Biden, of course, also had more than the 270 electoral votes he needed for election in our quaint system (which is unlikely to change).
The president, and many of his supporters, find this impossible to believe. Indeed, they are flooding the internet with the usual conspiracy theories, all of which will turn out to be false. I am reminded of the president’s own consternation in 2016 when – although he had won the electoral vote contest – he couldn’t accept that Hillary Clinton had gotten more popular votes. He convened a special commission to look into the rampant vote fraud that had contributed to this outrage. They found almost none; and certainly not enough to have materially affected the election. It’s funny how, when you have to raise your hand and tell the truth, the so-called witnesses to vote fraud don’t actually step forward.
Trump of course, being Trump, says he won this election. Some of his more weaselly supporters in the Congress are only too happy to aid and abet him. Senator Graham, whose betrayal of his friend John McCain was stunning even for a politician, has suddenly become an expert on the rampant corruption in Philadelphia; as has the smart but oily senator from Texas, Ted Cruz.
(Although I don’t think there’s much election finagling these days, I’m reminded of the Chicago politician who told me that they encouraged the denizens of Chicago’s Madison Street skid row (long gone) to vote Democratic by passing out half pints of cheap whiskey. He also said it was only to counteract what the Republicans were doing down state!)
I have friends and relatives who voted for Trump. Most of their reasons for doing so were political or economic. As a conservative myself, I can almost sympathize with them. If the Republicans had nominated a sane and principled candidate, I likely would have voted for him or her. They didn’t, so I didn’t. Most are going to eventually accept Trumps defeat and hope for the best.
But far too many are going to buy into one or more of the conspiracy fictions that are polluting the internet. Some of you reading this are already guilty of forwarding them to your weary and unwary friends. Please stop. Or do you really believe that if you tell a lie often enough, it will eventually become true? You can’t really believe it’s all true, can you? Give it up and try to find a Republican candidate for 2024 who tells the truth and gives a crap about the other guy.
Copyright 2020, Patrick F. Cannon
cannonnadedotcom 
I couldn’t agree with you more!
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AMEN!! As if Cruz weren’t bad enough, our totally bonkers Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is now offering a $1 million reward to anyone who finds evidence of significant voter fraud. A million would pay for an awful lot of witness bribing and document counterfeiting. It really is unbelievable and pathetic how many people blindly believe all these lies, even though the lies make no logical sense whatsover, and have no evidence to support them.
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And he won in Texas! A sore winner?
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Another great post. As for the asshole in office currently – he is nothing but a spoiled, self entitled brat who is throwing yet another tantrum. It should be interesting to see how he leaves the white house in January. As you know I don’t read or listen to the news but every once in a while I see a headline or two or neighbor & friends tell me what’s going on – for me it’s mostly a gut feeling about someone and I never had a good feeling about him, if fact the very sight of him made me gag.
Good job Pat!
On Thu, Nov 12, 2020 at 5:05 AM cannonnadedotcom wrote:
> patnettecomcastnet posted: ” Facing Reality By Patrick F. Cannon It would > appear that President Trump has failed to win a second term. Although the > numbers have surely changed since then, on Wednesday, November 11, he had > 4,924,464 fewer popular votes than President-elect Jose” >
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I had one of those spit-out-your-coffee moments when you wrote there’s not much election finagling these days! History knows about Chicago’s past and how the Kennedy clan will be forever grateful to Daley for ensuring Cook County delivered the decisive electoral votes for JFK. Naturally, we learned our lesson and no longer do those things. Ooops, there goes the coffee again!
At least back then you had to be creative, if not colorful, to flip an election. Today we have mail-in ballots that are allowed to be received, harvested and counted days after the election. And once those ballots are removed from their identifying envelopes how can anyone tell who filled them out, where they came from or if they are true or false? There is no paper trail, no evidence. What could possibly go amiss?
I’m no believer in conspiracy theories and it is indeed time for the Republicans, or someone, to slate a candidate with integrity. But Joe Biden? He’s a used, empty vessel, scripted and choreographed, composed of sound bites and pixels. He’s a hologram! A mentally declined party hack in poor health but with name recognition. He’s a Robert Mueller, with less of a dignified reputation. Cadres of unelected policy makers, ideologues and big money contributors finally have someone who will do their bidding. And as a Plan B, the charming and pristine Kamala Harris, waiting in the wings, is ready to fill in should the hologram get fuzzy.
I will be more inclined to trust our elections, whoever the candidates are, when safeguards are firmly in place and balloting is orderly and secure. Here in lowly corn country, you can vote in person only after you verify your identity and residency. They check it. If you can’t prove it, sayonara. Or, you can apply for an absentee ballot, for specific circumstances, which is similarly verified. No general mailing of ballots, no harvesting, none of that crap. We need such a system, lest our elections resemble baseball’s All-Star balloting. Hey, our guy stuffed more ballots than their guy!
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I certainly would have preferred a different choice, but this is where the country is at the moment. Joe sill has Mitch in the way, so nothing much is going to happen to upset the right. No voting system is proof against everything; particularly when the choices are what they’ve been recently. Where is Ike when you need him?
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I agree. I like Ike!
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