President Trump’s refusal to concede an election he has apparently lost has Democrats and the media up in arms. But why? They have heaped praise upon similar behavior in the recent past. Not only did they lionize Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams, but they were also preemptively setting up the same “we were cheated” narrative ahead of this election.
Clinton’s ongoing four-year search for the Russians who hid the state of Wisconsin from her is well documented. So, too, is the phantom voter suppression that made Abrams a Democratic hero for still refusing to concede her 2018 loss in the gubernatorial election in Georgia. But the reaction to their losses signaled that Democrats would refuse to accept the results of the 2020 election if they lost, and prominent Democrats said as much.
Clinton herself told Joe Biden not to concede “under any circumstances.” Former Sen. Claire McCaskill, now an MSNBC analyst, followed Abrams’s lead and accused Georgia of voter suppression on the first day of voting. Biden informed us that he actually couldn’t lose the election unless there was “chicanery” at polling places. And who can forget the week-long saga surrounding the conspiracy theory about Trump stealing mailboxes across the country?
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats said that Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation was all part of some sinister plan to give Trump the election if it was in dispute. This environment was encouraged by establishment media repeatedly, who continued to humor Abrams and Clinton in their worlds of make-believe.
You don’t believe me? Well, then, why was Jake Tapper concern-trolling Republicans upset at Trump’s apparent loss just one day after he had Abrams on to talk about election results in Georgia?
None of this is to excuse Trump’s current tear. Trump would have to demonstrate massive fraud in at least three different states to be vindicated, and two of the states he claims have cheated him are run by Republicans. If Trump has evidence of election fraud, he must produce it. Otherwise, he’s basically just doing what Abrams has done for the last two years — making unfounded claims based on conspiracy theories.
With the exception of their respective partisan affiliations, there is no difference between what Trump is doing now and what Clinton and Abrams have continued doing since their losses. There is also no difference between Trump setting himself up to claim fraud and Democrats who did the same thing, other than partisan affiliation. Anyone who was cheerleading or promoting one side of this conflict while condemning the other should reexamine themselves because it’s clear that both parties now have a problem accepting losses.
