Okay — now that the vote recount shenanigans are in full swing. Let’s think back to when Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton repeatedly and occasionally said that Trump not accepting the results of an election that was done jokingly was a “direct threat to our democracy.”
“Every time Donald thinks things aren’t going his way, he claims that this, whatever it is… is rigged against him,” Clinton said in Las Vegas on Oct. 19.
“He has become the first person, Republican or Democrat, to refuse to say he will respect the results of this election. This is a direct threat to our democracy,” she added at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Oct. 24.
The Clintons’ reaction was prompted by President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement that he would accept the election results. if he winsadding that if George Bush had made a promise to accept the election results three weeks earlier in the 2000 race — he might have lost. Frankly, to dissociate himself from the showbiz side of the rally where Trump made these remarks in Delaware, Ohio — what Trump said is not unusual. Any candidate has the right to challenge the results and demand a recount.
What is strange is that the Green Party, which had no chance of winning the election, is leading this effort based on flimsy evidence of hacking; evidence that the Clinton campaign has not seen, which is why it has not filed its own official objection. Furthermore, the Obama administration has noted that the Department of Homeland Security has not seen increased cyber activity from outside sources that would suggest that our election system was hacked the night Trump defeated Clinton in the biggest upset since the Truman/Dewey era in 1948.
Clinton has also conceded defeat in the election. And now the campaign is using the Green Party’s absurd crusade to get recounts in Wisconsin and Michigan. The deadline to file for recounts in Pennsylvania has passed in some counties. Stein will have to challenge the results in court if she wants to get a statewide recount, which is no effortless feat. She has raised enough money to fund the recount effort in two states. In fact, she has raised more money for this clownish display than she did for her entire presidential campaign.
NBC’s Chuck Todd said it sounds like Stein was talked into it — and most election analysts and data scientists have noted there’s nothing suspicious about the results in those three states. Additionally, Dave Weigel of The Washington Post noted that a) a recount won’t reveal evidence of hacking; and b) everyone thinks it’s a waste of time.
Clinton, you lost. Sorry, but you lost. Time to pack up… damn it, woman – you even admitted you lost.
