I have listened to the rhetoric, and continue to, from former President Donald Trump and his Republican apologists: “The election was stolen, stolen, stolen!”
Let us look at stolen elections!
For instance, Florida (Al Gore) in 2000, Ohio (John Kerry) in 2004, and (Hillary Clinton) many states in 2016.
Did the Democrats scream, “Stolen!”? No, they did not. They did not organize an insurrection against the Capitol. They graciously accepted the results.
Power transitioned peacefully, or continued.
Yes, Florida should have had a total recount. Yes, Ohio cleverly blocked hundreds of thousands of potential voters, mainly black, from voting via numerous (and illegal) tricks. Yes, Clinton had 3 million more votes than Trump, while seeing hundreds of thousands of, again, mainly black voters, blocked from voting in swing states.
Look at now, late 2020 and early 2021.
Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley are continuing to call the election rigged, despite numerous court decisions reaffirming the results. Even Trump’s officials declared the election clean and fair.
How interesting that swing states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia and Nevada were accused by the election-doubters as having run fraudulent lections, while swing states like Florida, Texas and Ohio that went for Trump were not questioned!
Imagine how Cruz would have screamed if Texas had gone for Joe Biden!
Even with several years of insults from Trump directed at Cruz and his family, Cruz has supported Trump, who urged the attack on the Capitol. Cruz is power hungry; he does not deserve to hold office.
Alas, he runs again in four years, and in that time he might even run for president. Scary!
Ruth E. Wagner, Brownsville
