I’ve said it repeatedly, and my position still stands. Nothing good will come out of going down this path. Nothing. There is no realistic scenario where the outcome of the election is changed, and even if there were, you’d never get anyone in this country to believe our elections are secure ever again.

If people go down this path and it goes nowhere, it only makes Democrats look like hypocrites for spending four years saying how our election integrity is safe, secure, free and fair only to immediately take that position and turn it on its head the second an election doesn’t go their way.

Even if there is meat on the bone…by admitting it, you are admitting that our elections aren’t free, fair, secure, and safe after all because that means that hackers were able to break into voting systems nationwide, in real time, change votes by the million, and go completely undetected. You would be saying that our election systems are in reality about as secure as my grandmother’s wireless hotspot, and you would be saying that the multiple levels of security and accountability that should have detected this in real time simply do not exist. You are saying that nobody, not one person in a red or blue state, looked at the vote tabulations from the machines, saw that the number in the tally was far higher than the number of people who physically showed up to vote, and said something. “Hey, George. The rolls say that we should have 3,598 votes cast according to our headcount, but the voting machine is giving me a total of 5,280. I think we need to take a look at this.”

And if that didn’t happen (because the headcounts and machine tabulations match), then people need to accept that a lot of people really did just show up to vote for Trump and nothing else. And in this political environment, that is a very real possibility. There are plenty of people who would gladly vote for Trump because “but Gaza” or “black woman bad” or “teh economy” or whatever. Casting a protest vote in a state like California or Massachusetts is a waste of time because those states are heavily blue, so there’s little reason to waste your time. But in Pennsylvania or Wisconsin, that vote would actually matter, which would drive far more people to the polls.

If you’re following polls at this point, there’s problem #1. Polls haven’t got a thing about Trump right since he came down the escalator to shit on Mexicans. All polls have proven is that there are plenty of people who will gladly vote Trump while also gladly telling poll workers whatever they want to hear to get them off the phone, or simply faking support for Harris to muddy the results. As a prime example, look at Springfield, Ohio where the community spent months defending the Haitian community in public, then voted 2:1 in favor of Trump.

Try flipping the results of the election at this point, and Harris will never be considered a legitimate President. You will never be able to convince anybody that our elections are secure again. You are telling people “The 2020 election was safe and secure so Trump’s claims are entirely unfounded. But they really did steal the 2024 election and almost got away with it! And we pinky swear that the 2028 election will be safe and secure.” Good luck with that.

There absolutely will be riots. They will make January 6 look like a schoolyard fight by comparison. There will be civil war. I don’t care if you show the public video of Trump himself (banging away at the keyboard)[irishnews.com/…/remembering-bailey-the-i-have-no-…] and maniuplating the numbers himself. People will not believe it. Fake news, deepfakes, AI manipulation. Whatever the reason, they’ll refuse to accept it and they’ll refuse violently.

We need to face facts, instead of chasing fringe conspiracy theories. Donald Trump won. He won in a free and fair election, and we have to do our best to get through the next four years and try again in 2028. I would much rather focus on the fact that literally every single pick he’s made so far has been tied to some kind of sex abuse scandal or child sex ring so we can expose them and run them out of politics before they get confirmed and cause any more damage. Getting rid of Gaetz proved that we at least have a chance there, vs. wasting political capital on conspiracy theories that would just make everything worse regardless of the outcome. There is no path where Trump gets ousted, Harris is sworn in, and everybody lives happily ever after.

• Trump supporter: "The election of 2020 was stolen from Trump."
• You: "That didn’t happen because our elections are safe and secure."
• Trump supporter: "But didn’t you just get finished saying that the 2024 election was stolen by hackers manipulating totals for Trump?"
• You: "Yes, but that was the 2024 election. Completely different this time."
• Trump supporter: "So how is it completely different? "
• You: “…”

or…

• You: "We have proof that due to systematic failures on multiple levels in literally every state in the country, vote totals were illegally manipulated to favor Trump."
• Voter: So why should I bother voting in 2028 if the election is just going to be decided by hackers anyway?
• You: "Oh, we’ve solved all of the problems. Believe us, the 2028 election will be safe and secure."
• Voter: “That’s what you said last time.”

Those are the conversations you will be having with people. You cannot simultaneously say that (a) the 2020 election was secure, (b) the 2024 election was stolen by Trump, and © the 2028 election will be secure. That absolutely will not pass the laugh test by your average voter.