The Jill Stein recounts in the Rust Belt are going nowhere. We knew that already. So why are Donald Trump allies filing suit to block them from happening in the first place?
This is the definition of bad optics, is it not? Trump is having a hard time processing being down 2.6 million in the popular-vote count, which is understandable. The margin of victory in the popular vote for Hillary Clinton is greater than 10 of the 45 men elected president in our nation’s history.
And now we have Stein, who wasn’t even a spoiler in the voting on Nov. 8, leading the effort to count the votes on more time in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan, on the heels of a report from a group of data scientists suggesting that maybe there was some kinda, sorta funny business going on in those states, given how the votes went elsewhere.
The Clinton campaign is quietly backing the Stein effort, because of course it has to. Trump backed Clinton into that corner back in October when he started saying that he might not accept the result if he lost, and generated the predictable chorus of recriminations from Clinton allies in the media and the progressive world that they now wish they could take back, given what happened, but of course unless you’re Trump, you can’t take anything back and not look like a major league hypocrite.
And not that those in the Trump world worry about toeing that line, but, come on. Filing suit to block recounts that aren’t going to change the outcome smacks of trying to hide something that you’re really not trying to hide, right?
All these years later, we all still doubt that George W. Bush really beat Al Gore in Florida, precisely because of the legal maneuvering done by the Bush team to prevent a full and legitimate recount from taking place.
The suits being filed to prevent these Stein-led recounts cite the damage that could be done to the legitimacy of Trump’s election.
Look, nothing can outdo the 2.6 million vote loss in the popular vote to question the legitimacy of Trump’s election. For all the quibbling over how the polls got the final result so wrong, the bulk of the final polls released the days before the election had Clinton ahead three to four points in the popular vote, and right now she’s up two.
Trump won the game because of the way the rules are written and interpreted, and those rules and interpretations aren’t going to change anytime soon.
The Trump folks need to let those recounts proceed, unless they fear for some reason that there may be something hidden that may be revealed.
That’s not what’s going on here, is it?
Column by Chris Graham
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